Efficiency Capital will serve as a retrofit aggregator for Canada Infrastructure Bank’s $2-billion Commercial Building Retrofit Initiative. A newly announced commitment of $50 million in federal funding along with the service provider’s 20 per cent equity capital stake will create a $62.5 million pool to devise and implement projects to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Ehren Corey, chief executive officer of the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) commends Efficiency Capital’s business model, which provides clients in the buildings sector with upfront capital to undertake required work in turn for a share of end-of-project utility cost savings. The company is an offshoot of The Atmospheric Fund (TAF), a non-profit agency funded through endowments with a 30-year track record of testing and advancing programs to underwrite energy and sustainability improvements.
Initially launched within the City of Toronto, TAF’s mandate now stretches across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area (GTHA). Efficiency Capital was incorporated in 2015 as a single-source provider of engineering, finance, installation and monitoring and verification services. Last year, it was ranked 31st in the Report on Business’ list of top growing Canadian companies.
“Canadian businesses and building owners are starting to make serious commitments to reduce their GHG emissions, but often struggle with the allocation of sufficient capital to implement their projects at scale or across multiple sites,” observes Chandra Ramadurai, the chief executive officer. “EC brings specialized capital and diverse expert teams to deliver projects that otherwise would fail to meet the internal hurdle rates of our clients.”
Under the requirements of the Commercial Building Retrofit Initiative, project proponents will have to achieve a 30 per cent reduction in GHG emissions, with no less than a 25 per cent reduction in any one asset across a portfolio of buildings. Those efforts are projected to be underway later this year once financial arrangements between CIB and Efficiency Capital are finalized.
“Retrofitting commercial buildings is and will continue to be an important tool to enable Canada to get to net-zero by 2050,” says Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities. “It is good for our environment, good for our economy, and good for workers.”
