Nine of Canada’s largest general contractors — Aecon, Bird, Chandos, EllisDon, Graham, Ledcor, Multiplex, PCL, and Pomerleau — have partnered with The Transition Accelerator to release a groundbreaking report that charts a path on how to meet the scale of Canada’s construction challenge while reducing emissions from jobsites across the country.

Drawing on operational data from more than 600 real-world projects, Growing and Greening Canadian Construction: Five Ways for Canadian Construction Companies to Build More and Emit Less is the first initiative of its kind in Canada to rigorously analyze construction-site emissions and identify practical, high-impact actions to reduce them—and potentially improve efficiency and affordability in the process.

Construction is central to Canada’s future growth, and the sector recognizes the need to address jobsite emissions, an area with limited representation in national emission inventories. The Canadian Construction Sustainability Alliance brings together industry leaders to tackle the challenges and opportunities of building a low-carbon Canada.

Based on real operational data from more than 600 projects nationwide, Growing and Greening Canadian Construction identifies five priority actions for the sector:

1. Electrify light-duty vehicles and small equipment;
2. Optimize and electrify temporary heating;
3. Adopt renewable diesel as a bridge fuel;
4. Connect sites to grid power instead of diesel generators; and
5. Deploy hybrid and electric excavation equipment.

The report proposes a gradual and pragmatic path to achieve the sector’s decarbonization goals:

• By 2030: A 25 per cent reduction in emissions is achievable through the early adoption of four key measures: vehicle electrification (5 per cent), heating optimization (5 per cent), adoption of renewable diesel (10 per cent), and grid connection (5 per cent).
• By 2035: A 55 per cent reduction could be achieved with large-scale implementation, notably through increasing the use of renewable diesel (20 per cent) and the early deployment of electric excavation machinery.
• By 2040: The sector could achieve a 75 per cent reduction, with renewable diesel as the main driver (25 per cent), followed by vehicle electrification and grid connections (15 per cent each).

“This report is clear: top Canadian construction companies are ready to lead the industry through the climate transition while our industry continues to build the infrastructure required to ensure Canada’s ongoing prosperity,” said Rodrigue Gilbert, president, Canadian Construction Association.