Canada is entering a major period of investment in housing, infrastructure renewal, and industrial development. As governments and industry work to scale construction across the country, a key question is emerging: how do we build the infrastructure Canada needs while also reducing emissions?
Build Canada Clean, a new report from Clean Energy Canada developed in collaboration with Ha/f Climate Design and Mantle Climate, explores how low-carbon construction materials and design approaches can reduce embodied carbon without increasing project costs.
The report analyzes real-world building and infrastructure case studies across Canada, including multi-unit residential buildings, roads, bridges, and water infrastructure systems. Findings show that lower-carbon materials are already commercially available in Canada at little to no cost premium — and in some cases at lower cost than conventional alternatives.
Key findings include:
- A Québec multi-unit residential building case study achieved a 30% reduction in embodied carbon while reducing overall construction costs by 12% through a combination of lower-carbon materials and design optimization.
- Across nine roadway case studies, embodied carbon reductions between 17–31% were achieved while reducing lifecycle road costs by up to 16%.
- Lower-carbon alternatives for concrete, steel, insulation, and asphalt are already available from Canadian manufacturers and suppliers.
- The report identifies practical policy and procurement opportunities for federal, provincial, and municipal governments to scale Buy Clean approaches and support Canadian industry competitiveness.
Mantle Climate contributed technical analysis and embodied carbon expertise to the report, including work related to infrastructure and water/wastewater treatment case studies.
As Canada accelerates investments in infrastructure and housing, the report demonstrates that reducing embodied carbon can align with cost competitiveness, procurement objectives, and long-term economic resilience.
