Net-Zero Transformation: build emissions-cutting infrastructure
Combined loans and grants normally up to CAD 10 million for Canadian municipalities and their partners to build innovative infrastructure with significant emissions-reduction potential.
Diese Finanzierungsmöglichkeit ist derzeit auf Englisch beschrieben.
Finance construction and installation through Net-Zero Transformation capital funding. This is the implementation stage: you need a completed assessment of the project’s greenhouse-gas reduction potential using methods that can be checked, plus a completed feasibility study or equivalent supporting the project. That study assesses whether the project is technically and financially workable and examines its environmental, social and economic effects.
The normal package covers up to 80% of eligible costs, with a combined loan-and-grant ceiling of CAD 10 million. The grant is inseparable from the loan and is normally up to 15% of the loan amount, not 15% of project costs. Municipalities with exceptional projects may qualify for higher loan and grant amounts.
The grant can rise to 20% of the loan if the workplan and budget include cleaning up a contaminated redevelopment site. A Phase II environmental site assessment or equivalent must confirm contamination and the need for remediation, and the cleanup must comply with applicable laws. Submit that assessment and a remediation or risk-management plan. The increase does not apply if cleanup or site closure has already happened, or contamination is discovered during the project.
Eligibility
Canadian municipalities and municipal partners can apply: companies, municipal corporations, regional/provincial/territorial organizations delivering municipal services, nonprofits, NGOs and research institutes. An Indigenous community can lead through a Canadian municipal partnership or a shared-service agreement concerning municipal infrastructure, climate change or adaptation.
The project must substantially improve performance beyond best practice through new knowledge, policy, practice, business models or advanced technology; or through a new application of an existing technology or practice that substantially changes operations or performance. For the advanced-technology route, the guide specifies government technology readiness level 7 or above: at least a prototype ready for demonstration in an appropriate operating environment.
There is no preset environmental percentage target. You must demonstrate significant long-term emissions-reduction potential, either directly or by enabling other reductions. Direct reductions must be quantifiable; indirect reductions need a strong explanation and clear assumptions about how reductions arise in the short, medium and/or long term. GMF considers both the scale of reductions and whether other municipalities could adopt the solution, supported by measurable benefits, a widespread municipal need and strong reasons to adopt it.
Compare expected environmental performance with a baseline in the feasibility work and provide the emissions evidence referenced in your application. For an operating facility’s baseline year, use the latest 12 consecutive months of reliable data representing typical operations without significant changes; its first month must be no more than five years before the full application.
New infrastructure must be outside the 100-year floodplain on the latest map unless protection is demonstrated. This refers to a flood level with a 1% chance of occurring or being exceeded in any year. Below CAD 2 million, provide a signed flood-exposure attestation if outside the floodplain or behind permanent structural protection; an engineer must attest to flood-resilient design where inside the floodplain or an outside-location attestation cannot be provided. Above CAD 2 million, submit a completed climate-risk assessment with the pre-application and address identified risks, using Climate Lens, ISO 14091, PIEVC screening or equivalent guidance. The assessment must use future conditions for the 30-year climate period at the end of the infrastructure’s planned life. The guide recommends that infrastructure design specialists analyze the climate data. Apply the guide’s Appendix F requirements for high flood, wildfire or permafrost risks. If the assessment cannot be provided at that stage, the guide allows discussing the procedure with the GMF advisor. These new-infrastructure requirements exclude retrofits and projects consisting only of mobile assets, including vehicles and charging stations.
GMF also assesses fair distribution of benefits and burdens, including effects on people facing exclusion or systemic barriers. Inclusive engagement, reconciliation and broader social and environmental benefits strengthen an application; the offer page treats these broader measures as preferences rather than an absolute eligibility condition.
How to apply
- Status
- Laufende Antragstellung
- Beschränkungen dieser Antragsrunde
- Year-round subject to available funds; approval may be deferred to the next fiscal year. The normal CAD 10 million and 80% limits apply to the combined loan-and-grant package.
Applications are accepted year-round until funds are allocated; approval may be deferred to the next fiscal year starting 1 April. Discuss the project with GMF at gmfinfo@fcm.ca or 1-877-417-0550, create a Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) portal profile and submit the pre-application. If invited, submit the full application and GMF’s Excel project workbook, the supplied template for your budget, workplan and funding sources, with the supporting documents. Only the authorized application contact can submit; consultants cannot sign or submit for you. Invitation does not guarantee funding.
Prepare the feasibility study or equivalent, engineering or detailed cost estimate, three years of audited financial statements, and an environmental-assessment summary if federal or provincial law requires it. Include municipal support, team information and letters for confirmed funding. All financing must be confirmed before the first payment, but need not be confirmed before submission.
Nonmunicipal leads need a municipal contact and council partnership resolution with the pre-application, incorporation and ownership documents, CEO or CFO support, and applicable business-plan and financial-projection documents. Municipal corporations document their municipal relationship and mandate; local boards provide their founding legislation. Indigenous applicants provide the partnership resolution or relevant shared-service agreement, plus the guide’s incorporation, governance and First Nation documents.
Municipal borrowers in New Brunswick, except Saint John, need Municipal Capital Borrowing Board authorization; those in Nova Scotia need ministerial borrowing authorization; those in Quebec need the borrowing bylaw issued by Quebec’s ministère des Affaires municipales et de l’Habitation (MAMH). Quebec municipalities and municipal corporations also submit their pre-application through that ministry’s municipal portal for its approval. MAMH reviews compliance before forwarding compliant applications to GMF.
Costs generally qualify after GMF receives the full application. Exceptions cover up to CAD 5,000 for application writing in the preceding 90 days and up to CAD 25,000 for required assessments completed in that period. Eligible capital costs include constructing, modernizing or leasing systems and renovating facilities; buying or leasing real property is excluded. Costs must be reasonable, essential and invoiced to the applicant; retain records for seven years after final payment.
Budget for reporting and payment documentation: completion report, updated workbook and expense claim, payment request, external financial audit, a legal opinion, prepared internally or externally, confirming review of the loan/grant agreement and other documents needed for that opinion, professional confirmation that the project is ready for its intended use, signage recognizing FCM-GMF support during and after implementation, and photos. A report after one year of operation covers environmental results, lessons and stated social/economic benefits. Missing expected environmental performance is not penalized if implementation followed the application. Progress reports apply to multiple payments or when requested.