From a building’s perspective, a zero-carbon building is designed to minimize greenhouse gas emissions from the onset of new construction. This happens in the conception phase, construction and to its operations. The Canada Green Building Council (CAGBC) created a standard to achieve more sustainable built environments.

The CAGBC set up standards to help reduce and control carbon emissions in new construction, major renovations and how to set up transition plans in existing buildings to become carbon neutral.

Defining carbon and its impact on our environment is important to understand. The word carbon includes all greenhouse gases which trap heat within our atmosphere. Some of these gases occur naturally in the atmosphere and some by humans¹. Some examples of the naturally occurring gases are carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) and the human produced ones, for example, are hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) and nitrogen trifluoride (NF3). The issue is when they leak into the atmosphere.

We report carbon in a common unit called CO2 equivalents (CO2e).

"The Zero Carbon Building –Design (ZCB-Design) StandardTM is a made-in-Canada framework that guides the design of low-carbon, highly efficient buildings and sets a strong foundation for achieving zero-carbon operations once the building commences occupancy. It applies to new construction and major renovations.’’

When you apply for either certification, this means the developers and building owners are taking responsibility for all carbon emissions over a building’s life cycle². It is also used to verify the building’s impact on the climate annually³.

Studies have shown that the carbon zero certifications are feasible both in the constructability and financially.

The project team registers for the certification once the construction documents are completed. For eligible existing new buildings to register for the performance certification, you must wait after 3 years of building operations⁴. For new construction or major renovations, the delay to have the performance certification is 12 months if you already have registered for the design certification.

There are some general requirements to be eligible for both performance and design certifications. Any building that is single and multi-family residential that is three stories or less and smaller than 600 m2 are not eligible.

By registering for a zero-carbon building (ZCB) certification, your team of experts come on board with JCB early during the design phase. We refer to this as the integrated design approach. The team will look at limiting onsite combustion for the heating systems, reducing energy demand, improving the building’s envelope all the while controlling the embodied carbon that the construction project will produce. One aspect that is more interesting is finding solutions for generating onsite renewable energy and energy storage during peak energy consumption periods. Finally, the project team assists in mitigating carbon numbers by purchasing carbon offsets if the need arises.

1. ^{Government of Canada website, Net-zero emissions by 2050 (page consultée le 4 juillet 2025), [En ligne], URL: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/environment/weather/climatechange/climate-plan/net-zero-emissions-2050.html}
2. ^{Webinar streaming; Introduction to the Zero Carbon Building Standards (2024) by CAGBC}
3. ^{Canada Green Building Council, Zero Carbon Building Design Standard version 4, juin 2024, p.9}
4. ^{Canada Green Building Council, Zero Carbon Building Design Standard version 4, juin 2024, p.10}
5. ^{Canada Green Building Council, Zero Carbon Building Design Standard version 4, juin 2024, p.14}
6. ^{Canada Green Building Council, Zero Carbon Building Design Standard version 4, juin 2024, p.8}

From Sean Klostermann, Directeur environnement