For municipalities working toward ambitious energy and carbon reduction goals, funding can be the difference between identifying an opportunity and being able to act on it.
But finding the right funding program, and navigating the application process can be a challenge in itself.
That was the opportunity our Energy & Carbon Solutions (ECS) team saw through the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Community Buildings Retrofit (CBR) initiative.
WalterFedy identified the funding opportunity for seven Ontario municipalities and worked alongside their teams to lead the application process and coordinate municipal support as required. The result: all seven applications were successful, with each municipality receiving the maximum $150,000 contribution available for their respective applications.
Beyond the funding itself, the experience demonstrated what can happen when technical planning and funding strategy are considered together.
Building the Case for Investment
Municipalities are responsible for diverse portfolios of community infrastructure, often with competing capital priorities, aging assets and limited internal resources. At the same time, expectations around energy performance, greenhouse gas reductions and climate resilience continue to evolve.
Programs like CBR can help bridge that gap.
Through the program, municipalities could access funding to better understand the performance of their buildings and establish pathways toward lower energy use and emissions. For our team, supporting the application meant more than completing paperwork. It required understanding the municipality’s facilities, priorities and long-term objectives and translating that information into the technical and financial case required by the funding program.
By identifying the opportunity early and helping municipalities navigate the process, we were able to support seven communities in accessing funding that could help turn their sustainability objectives into actionable plans.
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The Opportunity Continues
While the CBR program has transitioned, a new funding opportunity is helping municipalities continue that momentum.
Through the Green Municipal Fund’s Sustainable Municipal Buildings (SMB) program, municipalities can access funding to improve the energy performance of existing municipally owned buildings or pursue high-efficiency new construction.
The program supports municipalities at different stages of the process. Funding opportunities include retrofit pathway studies for existing buildings, studies for new municipal buildings, and capital projects that put those strategies into action through energy retrofits or high-performance new construction.
For municipalities, that creates an opportunity to think beyond individual upgrades. Funding can help establish a clear pathway for improving building performance, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption, and making informed decisions about where capital investment can have the greatest impact.
But as we saw through CBR, accessing funding starts well before an application is submitted. Municipalities need to understand which funding stream aligns with their project, whether the project meets eligibility and readiness requirements, and what technical information is needed to build a strong application.
That is where the experience gained through CBR can carry forward. Having successfully supported seven municipalities through that process, our ECS team can help communities navigate SMB and other emerging funding opportunities, from identifying the right program to developing the technical case and leading the application process.
Making Funding Part of the Strategy
Our experience with CBR reinforced an important lesson: funding should not be treated as an afterthought.
When funding opportunities are considered alongside asset planning, energy studies and capital planning, municipalities can be better positioned to act when programs become available.
WalterFedy’s Energy & Carbon Solutions team can help municipalities identify relevant funding opportunities, assess project and application readiness, develop the technical information required to support an application, and lead or support the application process.
Because securing funding is not the end goal. It is one of the tools that can help municipalities move good projects forward.
Have a municipal energy or carbon reduction project in mind? Talk to our Energy & Carbon Solutions team about available funding opportunities and how we can help you navigate the application process.