What Building Lasting Change 2026 Revealed About the Path to Climate‑Aligned Value
Canada Green Building Council Conference (2026) | Industry Insights
Montréal, Canada
The 2026 Building Lasting Change Conference organized by Canada Green Building Council (CAGBC) in Montreal last week reflected a noticeable shift in the national conversation on decarbonization and resilience. The tone was pragmatic and financially grounded, with a clear focus on the economic case for accelerating retrofits and strengthening the resilience of Canada’s building stock. I first attended the half day Valuing the Future workshop led by REALPAC and CAGBC, presenting their report of the same name, a roadmap for integrating climate-related risk factors into Canadian commercial real estate valuation (Valuing the Future: A Roadmap for Integrating Climate-Related Risk Factors into Canadian Commercial Real Estate Valuation), addressing how physical and transition risks may affect asset value across cash flow durability, capital expenditures, leasing risk, operating costs, insurance, liquidity, and long-term competitiveness. The discussion was engaged, a brainstorm really, covering data availability, regulatory alignment, and the respective roles of owners, appraisers, financiers, and policymakers. While the complexity of these issues makes clear that progress will take time, the session produced a tangible outcome: a collective commitment from all stakeholders to develop practical solutions.
Our panel the next day, Green Value and Urban Transformation: Insights on Sustainability, Valuation, and Conversions, reunited me with Phil Smith and brought the thread full circle: the 2025 research findings that had started this conversation a year ago formed the foundation of our discussion. We highlighted that physical and transition risks significantly affect asset value, yet core valuation inputs rarely reflect these factors, a gap that continues to bring more questions than answers in Canadian commercial real estate, which REALPAC and CAGBC are trying to address. I have high convictions that the updated RICS ESG Valuation Standard and REALPAC’s roadmap are important steps toward structured, evidence-based integration, but the discussion underscored that progress depends on collaboration across the full ecosystem. The Calgary office to residential conversion case studies that Maxim Olshevsky presented as part of the session demonstrated how adaptive reuse can serve as both a decarbonization strategy and a value creation pathway, reshaping downtowns while reducing embodied carbon and unlocking new residential supply.
The session Industrializing Deep Retrofits: Prefabrication, Partnerships, and Housing Decarbonization stood out for me, even though I watched only about 30 minutes of it. It offered a compelling illustration of what industrialized deep retrofits can achieve, with the WoodGreen’s 444 Logan Avenue project as a standout example. The case study showed how prefabricated, panelized retrofit solutions can materially improve performance, reduce emissions, and enhance resident outcomes. This project demonstrates how deep retrofits can address affordability, climate risk, and aging stock challenges simultaneously, providing a scalable model for cities across Canada.
Taken together, the conference, the workshop, and the panels reinforced a clear message: the sector is moving from discussion to deployment, and the next phase of leadership will be defined by those who can translate climate ambition into measurable, financeable outcomes.
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