The energy-reporting wave is building: what changes by 2027, and how to get ahead
Mandatory energy and emissions reporting is expanding across Canada and the US, with new and tighter deadlines landing through 2027. Here is what is coming, starting with Canada, and how to make every deadline a background task instead of an annual scramble.
The pattern across North America is consistent: measure, disclose, then perform. And the number of buildings and organizations required to report keeps growing. For Canadian owners and operators, the next two years bring more mandates and tighter ones. This is what is coming, and how to be ready before the deadline instead of scrambling at it.
Canada: reporting is expanding, not slowing
Toronto is expanding mandatory energy and water reporting under Municipal Code Ch. 367 to buildings as small as 10,000 sq ft in 2027, down from 50,000. That pulls in a large number of mid-size buildings that have never had to report. Vancouver's rules tighten the same year: energy-use data becomes required in 2027, with third-party verification and a $350 per tonne fee for buildings over their limit.
Ontario's Energy and Water Reporting and Benchmarking program is established: buildings 50,000 sq ft and up report energy and water use to the province every July 1 through ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, and the City of Toronto layers its own bylaw on top. Montréal has raised the bar again: By-law 21-042 now assigns each large building a public GHG rating from AAA to F, which turns the question from did you report into how does your building score. Vancouver's GHG intensity limits phase in through 2027, with enforcement paused in May 2026 pending a review.
The federal direction reinforces all of it. ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager was adapted for Canada by NRCan and already tracks tens of thousands of Canadian buildings, and Budget 2024 committed $73.5 million to help provinces and cities stand up benchmarking, disclosure and building performance standards. On the corporate side, the Canadian Sustainability Disclosure Standards align with the global ISSB baseline, and early adopters are expected to disclose Scope 3 emissions for reporting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2027. OSFI's climate guidance already pushes federally regulated financial institutions and their borrowers the same way.
The US: 2027 brings a new wave of deadlines
South of the border, 2027 is a big year. Washington State's Clean Buildings Performance Standard moves to its next tiers, with mid-size buildings facing a July 1, 2027 compliance deadline. California's SB 253 adds Scope 3 reporting for large companies in 2027. And Boston's BERDO already levies fines of $1,000 per day on buildings over 35,000 sq ft that miss its standards.
The common thread: whoever has clean data wins
Every one of these programs, in both countries, reports through ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager or a GHG inventory built from the same underlying energy data. The teams that struggle are the ones assembling bills by hand against each new deadline. That work is expensive on its own: benchmarking and data entry for just 20 buildings can run more than $40,000 a year.
How to get ahead of it
- Map your obligations by address. A single portfolio can face Ontario EWRB, a Montréal rating, a Washington deadline and a corporate disclosure ask at once.
- Automate whole-building data from your bills now, rather than re-keying it against every deadline.
- Validate the inputs before you submit. A wrong meter multiplier or a missing month changes your reported intensity, your rating and your emissions.
- Track your gap to each limit through the year, so compliance is a planning question in Q1, not a penalty later.
MartinAI does the first mile: it reads your bills across every commodity and layout, validates them, and produces the clean, whole-building record that benchmarking, GHG ratings and climate disclosure all depend on. Set it up once and each new 2027 deadline becomes a background task. You can also check the current rule for your province or city in a few seconds.
Frequently asked questions
Is energy reporting becoming mandatory in more places?
Yes. In Canada, Ontario, Montréal and Vancouver already mandate it, and Budget 2024 funds more provinces and cities to follow. In the US, more than 40 jurisdictions have benchmarking or building performance standard laws, with new tiers and Scope 3 disclosure arriving in 2027.
What changes specifically in 2027?
Washington State's Clean Buildings Tier 2 compliance deadlines land in 2027, California's SB 253 adds Scope 3 reporting for large companies, and early adopters of Canada's CSDS begin Scope 3 disclosure for reporting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2027.
How do we prepare without adding staff?
Automate the data layer. Once your bills flow into clean, validated, whole-building data, each deadline is a report rather than a project, and a small team can cover a large portfolio.
- 1City of Toronto: energy and water reporting (Municipal Code Ch. 367; 10,000 sq ft mandatory in 2027)
- 2Government of Ontario: EWRB
- 3City of Montréal: By-law 21-042 (GHG ratings)
- 4City of Vancouver: greenhouse gas intensity limits ($350/tonne, energy data from 2027)
- 5Natural Resources Canada: Canada Green Buildings Strategy
- 6PwC Canada: Canadian Sustainability Disclosure Standards
- 7Washington State Commerce: Clean Buildings Tier 2 compliance
- 8BDO: California SB 253 and SB 261
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