How can we better align financing and other supply-side offerings with the business case requirements of project owners?

Over the course of 2025-26, CSBA, Hydro Ottawa, and Deloitte worked with five commercial building owners who had recently received funding to undertake deep retrofit audits across 10 commercial assets. Following the audits, owners faced a critical decision: whether to proceed with some, all, or none of the recommended retrofit measures.

Too often, retrofit audits fail to translate into action. Despite identifying valuable opportunities, owners may not see a sufficiently compelling business case and the recommendations are ultimately set aside.

This pilot sought to challenge that outcome. The project took a deep dive into the motivations, priorities, and decision-making factors influencing building owners. At the same time, it convened a supply-side working group composed of financial institutions, government agencies, utilities, insurers, contractors, NGOs, and building management firms to explore whether the market was adequately positioned to meet owners’ needs.

The project identified four system-level actions that participants believe could better align supply and demand, reduce friction across the retrofit ecosystem, and increase the likelihood that audit recommendations are translated into completed retrofit projects.

CSBA and Deloitte are currently working with 13 retrofit accelerators across Canada to develop a prototype Commercial Retrofit Project Snapshot: a standardized project summary designed to clearly articulate the business case for retrofits to owners, financial institutions, and other decision-makers.

The Snapshot could also enable broader system-level alignment by creating a common framework through which financing, incentives, and support programs can be more effectively connected to viable retrofit opportunities.