By Michael Brooks
Executive Director, Real Property Association of Canada

Climate change is fast becoming the most pressing global issue of the 21st century. The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has predicted that if society does not address the issue of climate change, the average rates of warming by the year 2100 will be far greater than any temperature rise seen in the last 10,000 years. Such climate instability may increase the severity and frequency of extreme weather events we experience globally. While one can find various perspectives on the causes and impacts of, global climate change, greenhouse gas reduction is the least risk option and the obvious policy direction for all economies and citizens of the globe. Forget the science. Find the religion. We all have ample local evidence of warmer winters, a haze over the downtowns of most cities, closed beaches and high asthma rates. Like camping in the woods, we need to leave the air as we would have found it 10,000 years ago.

The built environment is a significant consumer of energy. Canada's landlords have consistently sought to reduce energy consumption over the years, through better insulation, by undertaking lighting and HVAC retrofits, installation of better equipment, and overall through better energy management. But we know as an industry we must do more. And we know we must do it in a partnership with our tenants, our suppliers, non-profit entities such as the Canada Green Building Council, government and our personnel: indeed all stakeholders. We must all have the same goal, and be ready to make changes to achieve it.

Many REALpac members are leaders in green buildings, from condo and house construction, to office and industrial buildings. REALpac has encouraged the industry by researching global best practices in corporate social responsibility, responsible investing, greenhouse gas reduction and green building management. Our Green Value study - undertaken in collaboration with RICS Canada, the Greater Vancouver Regional Authority, British Columbia Buildings Corporation, and several other stakeholders, published over a year ago, identified the commercial value in green building and profiled best-in-class examples in Canada. Many more are coming on stream.
Much more needs to be done. Green building construction requires new designs, green design professionals, better (and local) materials, and new construction and management skills and practices. Australia and Europe seem far ahead of North America, although much of the warm weather design ideas from Australia won't translate well to four season Canada. Much will be learned over the next 12 months as groups such as the Canada Green Building Council and BOMA Canada gather evidence and share experiences on construction methods, building management and energy savings initiatives. There are many green-building thought leaders and risk takers, and they are to be lauded. This is real time R&D. Government will need to keep up with changes in building codes and energy policy. Green landlords will need to be encouraged with green depreciation rates and incentive programs to accelerate the pace of change. Commercial tenants will have to both support landlords' energy and resource conservation initiatives and facilitate the social change necessary within their organizations to achieve real reductions in direct and indirect energy consumption.

REALpac knows that, as an industry, we cannot wait for regulatory compulsion: reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas production is every person's responsibility. It's not tomorrow's car choice, tomorrow's temperature settings, tomorrow's insulation upgrade, tomorrow's equipment upgrade, tomorrow's conservation measure. It is today's.

Michael Brooks is the Executive Director of the Real Property Association of Canada ("REALpac"), a trade association of Canada's largest public, private and institutional real estate entities. www.realpac.ca