The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) has closed on a $100-million investment with GDI Integrated Facility Services Inc. (GDI) to support deep energy retrofits in aging buildings across Canada.

Once all retrofits are complete, it is estimated that approximately 44,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced per year. In addition, the projects are expected to support about 500 jobs in the trades sector.

GDI has formed a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to finance the capital costs of the retrofits, which will include the CIB’s investment with the remainder funded through an equity investment by GDI and third parties.

GDI’s wholly owned subsidiary Ainsworth and its subsidiary, Énergère will source energy projects and provide complete turnkey design and build services. The companies will offer initial energy audits, energy modelling, system design, installation, commissioning, measurement and ongoing energy management, data analytics and energy optimisation.

Each project carried out by the SPV will vary in scale and approach. Ainsworth will provide their clients with deep energy retrofit solutions to dramatically reduce carbon emissions. Carbon reduction measures include fuel switching, HVAC upgrades, transitioning to clean and renewable power sources like solar generation, electrical vehicle charging and energy storage facilities.

The funding is part of CIB’s Building Retrofits Initiative, which has committed over $1.2 billion towards financing sustainable retrofits.