In an economic downturn driven by the COVID-19 health crisis, recovery investments that support growth while also improving human health, and environmental outcomes are essential for fostering long-term resilience in line with the objective of building back better.
This report analyses the comparative environmental and health benefits offered by five green recovery projects - energy-efficiency retrofits for residential buildings, energy efficiency retrofits for commercial buildings, installing solar or wind generation capacity, getting zero-emissions public transit vehicles on the road, and getting zero-emissions personal vehicles on the road – in three Canadian cities: Calgary, Québec City and Waterloo-Kitchener.
The results of the partial cost-benefit screening-level analysis show that residential buildings and transit investments deliver the highest level of average annualized benefits across all three regions, and energy efficiency retrofits for commercial buildings delivered the lowest benefits.