The Canadian government’s newly announced Codes Acceleration Fund is largely reserved for bodies that have the authority to enact rules governing building design and performance, but businesses and stakeholder organizations that contribute to capacity building for code uptake, compliance and/or enforcement are also eligible for funding. Roughly $20 million of the $100 million fund has been earmarked for the latter activities, with prospective providers invited to submit proposals by March 27.

“As Canada advances toward a net-zero future, reducing emissions from our buildings is a critical undertaking. This fund will support our partner jurisdictions and others in advancing stronger building codes to improve resiliency and efficiency,” says Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources.

The Codes Acceleration Fund is aligned with the government’s 2030 emissions reduction plan and green buildings strategy. It is meant to support the earliest possible adoption of the highest energy performance tiers in the model national codes, which are devised to deliver a 60 to 70 per cent reduction in energy consumption over the baseline tier, as well as adoption of other high-performance building codes, such as net-zero emissions codes.

While that’s a task for provinces/territories, municipalities and Indigenous governments, which are slated to be the main recipients of the funding, two other objectives are also identified:

• to promote higher rates of compliance with adopted codes; and
• to build capacity and support market preparedness for ambitious code adoption

Under the capacity building stream, program administrators will be looking for candidates to provide resources, tools and approaches that can help to accelerate code adoption, compliance and/or enforcement, and can potentially be applied on a national scale. That could take the form of technical and design supports, software models, training programs, monitoring and verification, compliance guidance or enforcement tools.

For-profit and not-for-profit organizations incorporated in Canada, utilities, Indigenous organizations and regional and municipal governments that do not have the authority to adopt building by-laws or codes are eligible to apply. For-profit businesses can receive funding to cover up to 75 per cent of qualifying projects costs. All other candidates are eligible for up to 100 per cent funding.