Thank you, Madam Chair.
I would like to thank the members of the committee for inviting me.
As a regional climate institution, the Greater Montreal Climate Fund's mission is to accelerate the decarbonization of the entire greater Montreal metropolitan area by acting as a catalyst for climate finance. The Greater Montreal Climate Fund is a member of the Low-Carbon Cities Canada network, commonly known as the LC3, which helps cities and communities realize their potential for reducing carbon emissions. Since its creation, the network has mobilized over $150 million for this purpose.
According to the general consensus, we collectively have enough information today to justify the urgent need to modernize the residential housing stock, whether to ensure affordability by reducing building running costs, to cut energy consumption and thereby free up kilowatt-hours for the electrification needs of our economies of the future, or to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the fight against climate change. The technologies for improving the energy efficiency of our buildings are well established. Their effectiveness in reducing energy consumption and bills is also well established and recognized. Regulation is also a key lever for implementing and harmonizing the minimum renovation standards that must be met. However, major challenges remain. What is lacking to speed up renovation projects, particularly in the residential sector, is innovative financing combined with turnkey support.
By way of example, I would like to tell you briefly about MultiRés, a turnkey energy-efficient renovation program for owners of multi-unit residential buildings in the Montreal Metropolitan Community, which we have set up with Efficiency Capital, our private-sector partners. This program was specifically designed to overcome several obstacles faced by owners of multi-unit residential buildings, whether privately owned or social housing providers, such as co-operatives or non-profit housing organizations. The program provides funding and coordination for 100% of the renovation work while guaranteeing energy savings. This combination of funding and support thus lifts the burden from the shoulders of property owners, who have neither the time, nor the expertise, nor the teams in place, nor, very often, the financial resources required to manage a renovation project that is, nevertheless, absolutely essential.
MultiRés is the perfect example of a catalyzing public-private partnership, supported by structural funding mobilized through public money capitalized in a sustainable fund, which targets a residential market sector that is difficult to renovate. The Greater Montreal Climate Fund is contributing $1 million over five years, making nearly $70 million available to owners for their energy-efficiency renovations.
This type of financial leverage leads me to talk to you about climate finance innovation.
Public money and grants alone will not be able to finance the energy and ecological transition. Canada must find new financing mechanisms to enable the implementation of measures for a just and equitable energy transition. These mechanisms must ensure that government investment acts as a catalyst for private and philanthropic investors in order to meet the need for accelerated action towards decarbonization and resilience. This is at the heart of the mission of the Greater Montreal Climate Fund and LC3.
For the energy transition in buildings, several innovative funding models are already well established. I am thinking in particular of the PACE model, which was mentioned in discussions with several stakeholders.
Other models are yet to be tested. For example, the Greater Montreal Climate Fund is working to set up a bridging loan fund for major energy conversions, such as geothermal energy, to bridge the gap in capital required immediately, as public grants alone are insufficient to cover this gap or are only paid out once the conversion is complete.
Furthermore, financial innovation makes it possible to link funding mechanisms to a building's energy performance, thereby ensuring that the desired targets for energy efficiency and cost-effectiveness are met.
My point here is to demonstrate that public money can be used in a more sustainable way than through simple financial incentives, i.e., grants alone. When pooled within an endowment fund, as is the case with the Greater Montreal Climate Fund, it not only ensures the long-term sustainability of financial support through the returns generated, but also acts as a catalyst—by mitigating the associated risks—for innovative, tailor-made programs designed to accelerate existing transition pathways or to open up new, transformative avenues. It is in this spirit, moreover, that a budget request has been submitted to the government to extend the LC3's scope to other major urban centres in Canada in order to achieve the same impact.
In conclusion, I would say that, to accelerate residential renovation, we need to combine innovative financing, public and private capital, and turnkey support.
Thank you.