Green Building Statistics in Canada

Climate change and its effects are recognised as important issues in Canada. One of the ways Canada is tackling climate change is through more sustainable development and Canada is one of the world leaders in green building practices. Green buildings prioritise energy efficiency, minimal environmental footprint, and resource conservation. These practices enhance a building’s performance and promote the occupants’ health and well-being. 

Statistics show an upward trend in green building in Canada and the market for sustainable building technologies and materials is expanding fast. In this article, we explore those statistics to provide an overview of what the green building industry looks like in Canada. 

Green Building Statistics for Canadians

• Canada has over 17 million residential buildings and almost 580,000 commercial and institutional buildings. 
• The construction and running of buildings contribute up to 30% of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada. 
• Canada ranks fourth in the world for LEED-certified building projects. 
• The green building industry creates around 530,000 jobs in Canada.
• Around one-quarter of building jobs are now green
• In 2022, the green building industry’s gross domestic product was approximately $65 billion.

Residential, Commercial, and Institutional Buildings in Canada

Canada has over 17 million residential buildings and in 2021, there were approximately 580,000 commercial and institutional buildings in Canadian provinces. In total, they occupied a floor area of around 740 million square metres and consumed approximately 970 million gigajoules of energy.

During the same year, the average Canadian household consumed about 86 gigajoules per year. This shows that the total energy used by institutional and commercial buildings is equal to the yearly energy use of more than 11 million households.

Restaurants are the most energy-intensive buildings among commercial buildings in Canada. Across all Canadian provinces buildings, where restaurants represented the main activity, had the highest energy use intensity at around 2.6 gigajoules per square metre. The second highest intensity of approximately 1.8 gigajoules was among buildings where the main activity involved vehicle dealerships, repairs, and storage. The lowest energy intensities were found among museum and gallery buildings (around 0.8 gigajoules), schools (approximately 0.9 gigajoules), and medical office spaces (also around 0.9 gigajoules).

Building Sector Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The building sector is responsible for approximately 12% of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions. If we include electricity generated off-site, the total emissions increase to around 17%. Even more emissions come from the supply chains and materials associated with the building sector. If we include these emissions the total emissions from the sector reach around 28–30%.

More than 75% of building emissions are created by water and space heating and most of it is because the heating equipment uses fossil fuels. Moving to electric or clean fuel water and space heating systems is essential for reducing the building sector’s emissions.

Canada Is the Fourth in the World for Green Buildings

Globally, in 2024, Canada ranked fourth in the world for LEED-certified buildings. Mainland China was ranked number one with over 1,300 projects and more than 18 million certified square metres. India was next with around 360 projects and approximately 11.2 million certified square metres.

Canada recorded approximately 300 projects in 2024, with around 6.1 million square metres of certified building area. It was followed by Brazil and Sweden with around 120 and about 60 projects, respectively.

Employment in the Green Building Industry

The green building industry creates around 530,000 jobs. The industry includes a wide range of roles such as engineering, architecture, design, data sciences, manufacturing, construction, and marketing jobs.

Because the industry is growing, it means more jobs will be created in the future. According to the report Canada’s Green Building Engine by the Canada Green Building Council, there will be over 1,500,000 green building jobs in Canada by 2030. Ontario will have the biggest green building workforce, with around 550,000 workers, followed by Quebec with approximately 330,000 workers.

Most of the jobs in the green building industry are in the construction and trades sector, which accounted for around 45% of the jobs in 2021. Materials and manufacturing formed the second largest sector with approximately 31% of the jobs. Policy and education accounted for around 8%; professional services accounted for about 11%; waste and recycling accounted for approximately 3%; and utilities for around 2% of the jobs within the green building industry.

Around One-Quarter of Building Jobs Are Now Green

In 2022, approximately 25%, or around 330,000, of construction industry jobs were related to green building. Ontario had the highest proportion of green building-related construction jobs at around 30%, followed by British Columbia with approximately 26%. It is expected that the portion of green building-related jobs will increase dramatically by 2030. The estimate is that by then, around 55–60% of the jobs will be in the green building sector.

Green Building Industry GDP

In 2022, the green building industry’s gross domestic product (GDP) was approximately $65 billion, having continued to grow steadily from around $48 billion in 2018. The construction and trades sector accounted for about 38% and the materials and manufacturing sector for approximately 30% of the GDP. Professional services contributed around 18%; policy and education about 7%; waste and recycling approximately 5%; and utilities around 2% of the GDP.

According to the report by the Canada Green Building Council, by 2030, the building industry’s GDP will reach approximately $150 billion in Canada. Ontario, as the largest province, will make the biggest contribution towards the industry’s GDP: around $62 billion. Next are Quebec and British Columbia with approximately $33 billion and around $22 billion, respectively.

Retrofitting to Improve Building Efficiency

Retrofitting means updating a building so it is more energy efficient, safer, and more sustainable. This involves changing the existing systems that use fossil fuels to systems that use clean fuels or electricity. Often it also means incorporating renewable energy sources such as solar panels, enhancing insulation, and replacing windows and doors.

At the current rate of retrofits, which is around 1–1.5%, Canada would need approximately 50–60 years to retrofit all public and commercial buildings and over 100 years to retrofit all residential buildings. This clearly is not fast enough. To retrofit all existing buildings by 2050 would require around 3–4% of buildings to be upgraded each year and between $25 and $35 billion in investment annually.

Canada Green Building Strategy

The goal of the Canada Green Building Strategy is to reduce the building sector’s emissions by around 40% by 2030 compared to 2005. The ultimate goal is net-zero emissions by 2050. To reach this target Canada needs all new buildings to meet the green building standards and have retrofitted all existing buildings.

The strategy aims for all new buildings to be net-zero carbon-ready ideally by 2028 but no later than 2035. All new buildings also need to be climate-resilient, too. The target for all new buildings to be climate-resilient is around 2030.

Benefits of Investing in Green Building

The main reason for ensuring new buildings conform to green standards and retrofitting existing buildings is to reduce the carbon emissions from the building sector. However, there are also other ways Canada will benefit from investments in the sector as it will create more jobs and make a bigger contribution towards the country’s GDP. 

In Canada’s Green Building Engine report, the Canada Green Building Council states that with no targeted intervention, the building industry’s greenhouse emissions will only be reduced by 22.5 Mt by 2030. With targeted intervention, the reduction will be 53 Mt by 2030. Targeted intervention would also mean that the number of jobs will increase to nearly 1.5 million compared to approximately 940,000 with no intervention. Similarly, targeted intervention will help to grow the sector’s GDP much faster to $150 billion by 2030 compared to $95 billion with no intervention. 

Green Buildings in Canada

Canada has emerged as one of the global leaders in the green building industry. Here are just some examples of green buildings in Canada. 

Place Victoria, Gatineau, Quebec

The building was constructed in 2013 and is LEED Platinum certified. It is estimated to consume 47% less energy than comparable buildings. Its green features include collecting rainwater to flush toilets, triple-pane windows, highly efficient heating, cooling, and ventilation systems, and increased insulation in the roof and walls. 

Royal Canadian Mounted Police ‘E’ Division Headquarters, Surrey, British Columbia

This is a three-building complex for 2,400 Royal Canadian Mounted Police staff. It was finished in 2012, has LEED Gold standard certification, and is about 50% more energy efficient than similar buildings. The building uses the heat created by telecommunications and the data centre to provide hot water and heating to parts of the complex. 

Greenstone Building, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

This LEED Gold certified building was completed in 2007 and it is 50% more efficient than other comparable buildings. It has high-efficiency propane boilers and an air-cooled condensing chiller. It also utilises a glass curtain wall with embedded solar cells to collect solar power, which is used to, for example, heat hot water. 

Normand Maurice Building, Montréal, Quebec

The Normand Maurice Building is a government building that accommodates employees from 5 different federal agencies. It was completed in 2006 and has been LEED Gold certified. It consumes approximately 55% less energy than similar buildings. The green features used in the building include geothermal wells, a green roof, and radiant heating and cooling. 

Conclusion

Canada is one of the world leaders when it comes to the green building industry. However, more is still required if the country wants to meet its net-zero target by 2050. For example, the rate of retrofitting existing buildings to make them more efficient needs to increase to 3% – 5% per year. 

Canadian buildings, not including the manufacturing of materials and construction, are responsible for around 18% of the country’s greenhouse emissions. This can be reduced significantly by making the building more efficient and switching to green energy sources. However, focusing on green building is not only crucial for Canada’s aim for net zero, but it will also boost the economy by creating more jobs and contributing more towards the country’s GDP.