Welcome to the Buildings sector information page. Learn how climate change impacts this sector, explore how climate information can be used in decision-making through case study examples, quickly access relevant climate data, and discover other resources to support adaptation planning.
Buildings protect occupants from outdoor environments and weather, ensuring their safety and comfort. However, as climate change accelerates, buildings face growing challenges from rising temperatures, shifting precipitation patterns, and increasingly frequent extreme weather events. Because most buildings constructed today will remain in use for 50 years or more, they will inevitably encounter these climate-related challenges. Despite this, many current design practices still rely solely on historical climate records that describe the past rather than the future. This results in a growing disconnect between the conditions anticipated in design and the realities that buildings will ultimately be exposed to. A building may fully meet today’s standards, but as climate conditions shift, it could become less resilient and more vulnerable to climate risks.
Already, the climate we experience today is unlike that of just a few decades ago, and the future climate will be even more unfamiliar. Extreme heat, flooding, and wildfires are no longer distant threats; they are actively reshaping the built environment in Canada. For example, rising temperatures have placed unprecedented demands on Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, resulting in costly retrofits and repairs. Insufficient cooling capacity in older buildings, which were not originally designed for cooling, has left occupants vulnerable to overheating. Meanwhile, wildfires and extreme weather events have compromised both indoor air quality and the structural safety of buildings. As warming continues, so too does the risk of reduced performance, costly retrofits, and climate-related damages.
To ensure buildings remain safe, functional and resilient throughout their lifespans, building designers must consider a range of future scenarios. Incorporating future climate data early in the design process allows buildings to better withstand gradual shifts in average conditions as well as the increasing frequency of extreme events. The National Building Code of Canada (NBC) acknowledges this necessity, stating that “many buildings will need to be designed, maintained, and operated to adequately withstand ever-changing climatic loads.” Reflecting this need, the 2025 NBC incorporates future climatic design values for the first time. These values account for projected changes in heat, cold, wind, snow, and rainfall, rather than relying solely on historical observations. Their inclusion marks a significant step toward supporting the resilient building design.
High quality climate projection datasets are now accessible to all Canadians on ClimateData.ca, offering practitioners the means to design for resilience beyond current code minimums. For buildings, several key resources are available:
While the above resources are focused on buildings, ClimateData.ca also hosts other sector-relevant tools and datasets that may be of interest to building professionals, such as projected Short-duration IDF Data for future rainfall extremes and the Fire Weather Projection app that provides future information of hot and dry “fire weather” conditions.
A ClimateData.ca survey found that over 80% of building professionals believe climate change should inform their designs and are prepared to act before code updates are formalized. By taking action now, building professionals can stay ahead of the curve by utilizing future climate datasets and tools based on the best available climate science to not only design climate-resilient buildings, but also improve energy efficiency, reduce long-term costs, and, above all, safeguard occupant safety and comfort.
By striking a balance between mitigating climate change – through improved energy efficiency – and adapting to climate hazards, building professionals can ensure both the durability of structures and the long-term well-being of their occupants. It is therefore important that building designers put in place strategies to adapt to climate change. To facilitate this process, ClimateData.ca also presents several case studies which show practices on how climate data can be used to contribute to adaptation efforts.
In Risks of Building Overheating in British Columbia, BC Housing, the largest provider of non-profit housing in the province, identified overheating as a main climate risk. To comply with the province’s Step Code and to prepare buildings for warmer conditions, BC Housing used future-shifted weather files for building energy modeling. Simulating building performance under warmer conditions ensures that both existing and new housing stock can maintain comfort and safety under projected climate conditions.
Another example from BC details how future climate conditions were considered during the design of two new student residences at the University of Victoria (UVic). Engineering consultants initially used historical climate data for Abbotsford, BC, as an analogue for Victoria’s future climate, as Abbotsford experiences warmer summers. However, future-shifted weather files revealed that Victoria’s 2050s summer temperatures would be significantly warmer than current conditions in Abbotsford. This early realization allowed designers to resize HVAC systems to meet future demands.
Rising temperatures in northern Canada are also accelerating permafrost thaw, posing risks to infrastructure. A case study in the Northwest Territories assessed these risks, highlighting that while increasing temperature is the primary driver of permafrost thaw, increasing precipitation and precipitation extremes could also accelerate degradation. This assessment underscores the importance of considering multiple climate variables in northern design.
Box 1. Federal Regulatory Landscape And Design Standards
The design of buildings that take climate change into account is a national priority:
The Pan-Canadian Framework and CRBCPI Initiative mentioned above have yielded a range of new building design guidelines, including:
For a complete listing of the above-mentioned standards, guides, and reports, please see Annex A of the Standards in Action: Building a Climate-Resilient Future report by the Standards Council of Canada.
Professional Practice Bodies
Professional organizations are also working hard to establish capacity in the building sector, and to integrate appropriate guidance and policies into building design best practices and standards of care. Some examples of recent steps forward include:
Climate change is also being incorporated into the duty of care definitions that define professional conduct, building project risk, and issues surrounding liability.
February 20, 2026
Pouriya Jafarpur and Ryan Smith, Canadian Centre for Climate Services
June 11, 2025
Geneviève Thouin, Federation of Canadian Municipalities and Rachel Malena-Chan, Casey Clunas, and Ryan Smith, CCCS
August 12, 2024
Canadian Centre for Climate Services
July 20, 2023
Ryan Smith, Canadian Centre for Climate Services
February 27, 2023
National Research Council Canada
January 23, 2023
Pouriya Jafarpur and Ryan Smith, Canadian Centre for Climate Services
December 15, 2022
Ryan Smith, Canadian Centre for Climate Services
Explore the wide range of information available to better understand and use climate data.
Download available climate data, choose download options to refine your data choice, or use your own settings to obtain location-specific climate indices.
The Future Building Design Value Summaries are location-based summaries of the building design values developed by Environment and Climate Change Canada as part of the Climate-Resilient Buildings and Core Public Infrastructure (CRBCPI) project.
Learn how to use, read and interpret IDF curves, as well as how to account for extreme precipitation in a changing climate.
Looking for climate information for the more immediate future? Seasonal forecasts are now available on ClimateData.ca and can help inform short-term decision-making.
Explore variables which are relevant to this sector.
Building climate zones are based on HDDs and used to indicate energy requirements for space heating to maintain comfortable conditions.
The Future Building Design Value Summaries are location-based summaries of the building design values developed by Environment and Climate Change Canada as part of the Climate-Resilient Buildings and Core Public Infrastructure (CRBCPI) project.
Cooling degree days are used to estimate the amount of energy required for air conditioning during the warm season and are used in utility planning and construction decisions.
HDDs are used to indicate energy requirements for space heating to maintain comfortable conditions inside buildings.
High temperatures exacerbate the urban heat island effect in cities leading to even higher temperatures in urban locations. Without cooling, conditions indoors may become unsuitable for building inhabitants, and outdoor construction may need to be limited.
Future Weather files for locations across Canada are available for building performance simulation. Two types of ‘future weather files’ are now available through the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (PCIC) and the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). PCIC and NRC’s future weather files differ in terms of technical approaches, and this is outlined in the ClimateData.ca Learning Zone article. Files from the two methods offer somewhat different data availability and may be suited for different building performance simulation purposes.
This project was undertaken with the support of:
