Backgrounder: Government of Canada and FCM Invest $85.5 Million Through Green Municipal Fund to Advance Sustainable Affordable Housing Across Canada

The Green Municipal Fund (GMF) is a $2.4-billion investment funded by the Government of Canada and delivered by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM). It supports innovative and scalable municipal sustainability projects that deliver environmental, economic and social benefits to communities across Canada.

GMF operates at arm’s length from the federal government. Federal representation on the GMF Council includes Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Infrastructure Canada (INFC) and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

In 2019, the Government of Canada provided an additional $950 million to GMF. This investment expanded three major energy efficiency programs:

• Community Efficiency Financing (CEF) leverages innovative financing models such as loan repayments on utility bills to make home energy upgrades more accessible and affordable.  Since launching in 2020, more than 40 local programs have been established, reaching nearly 14,000 homes across Canada.
• Community Buildings Retrofit (CBR) supports deep retrofits of community facilities.
• Sustainable Affordable Housing (SAH) enables affordable housing providers to build or retrofit energy-efficient housing.  Since 2020, SAH has built or renovated over 4,100 affordable homes, providing safe, stable housing for families, seniors and individuals.

Since its creation in 2000, 2,736 projects have been approved across Canada, $1.25 billion has been invested in sustainability projects, 2.98 million tonnes of GHG emissions were avoided annually and 990,000 gigajoules of energy were saved annually.  It has also contributed $1.53 billion to the national GDP, created more than 16,000 person-years of employment and added $853 million of national wages and salaries paid to households.

GMF also supported the establishment of Low Carbon Cities Canada (LC3) by transferring $183 million to create autonomous endowments in seven major urban centres. LC3 helps scale up proven low-carbon solutions across Canada’s largest cities.