L4.1Explore sustainability standards for new civic facilities

City facilities account for the largest share of the City’s corporate emissions. Recognizing that the construction of new civic facilities will further contribute to corporate emissions, it is important for the City to work on both reducing emissions from existing facilities while also avoiding additional emissions from new construction. This can be done by constructing new facilities to be either zero-carbon or zero-carbon ready upon completion. In addition, new facilities can be designed to minimize environmental impacts through green building measures like sustainable material selection and water conservation, and to be resilient to climate impacts through future-proofed cooling and air filtration systems.

To achieve this, the City is putting in place comprehensive guidelines that will inform design teams involved in new construction projects. The guidelines will set out principles, priorities, and the approach towards designing new facilities as zero-carbon and climate-resilient. The guidelines will also focus on performance-based metrics in-lieu of prescriptive approaches to help establish sustainability as a priority at the outset of any City project.