North American

Climate Action Strategies


Embracing the

Terms of the Paris

Climate Accord


In North America, a number of states and municipalities have embraced the philosophy of energy savings through improved building facades.  In our cities, buildings are by far the largest user of energy, typically responsible for over 60% of all energy use and greenhouse gases created. Changing the way we build, manage, live and work, and renovate our built environment, can pay huge dividends.

Many Provincial, State and Municipal Governments have taken additional steps; passing laws that mandate deep energy cuts. By using historical and analytical data, cities are setting bench-marks for building performance guidelines. Currently, there are a number of recent laws and building codes in many North American cities, including Toronto, New York, Mexico City, Seattle, Vancouver, Washington, D.C. to highlight just a handful. There are MANY more. Here is a quick snapshot of what these cities are doing to combat their greenhouse gas challenges.

01 Vancouver

 

North America's 4th largest city is working toward NET ZERO.  In 2017 Toronto's City Counsil committed to reducing overall greenhouse gases...

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02 Seattle

 

Few cities in North America acted earlier than Seattle to pass meaningful laws to protect their city from the effects of Climate Change...

cont.

03 California

 

Nov 2022 the California Air Resources Board (CARB) released its updated proposal to implement the most ambitious climate action of  any...

cont.

04 Colorado

 

A new law in Colorado focusing on environmental standards is set to take effect in January 2026, requiring

all residential structures, three stories cont.  

05 Mexico City

 

In 2016, the Ministry of Energy endorsed the new Energy Conservation Code for Buildings in Mexico and issued a guidance...

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06 Toronto

 

North America's forth largest city is working toward NET ZERO. In 2017 Toronto's City Counsil commited to reducing its overall greenhouse...

cont.

07 New York City

 

Perhaps no other North American city has taken as many aggressive actions as New York. In 2019 the New York City Counsil passed what is...

cont.  

08 Massachusetts

 

The Massachusetts Residential Stretch Energy Code has been available since late 2009 and has already been widely adopted by...

cont.

09 Washington DC

 

The United States Capital began its leadership in the climb to get to Net Zero, like Seattle, in 2013. Five years later in 2018 Mayor Muriel Bowser...

cont.