More topics

Carbon Neutral Government program buildings ownership and reporting

Last updated on January 15, 2024

Building emissions sources, also known as stationary sources, are primarily electricity and fossil fuel consumption.  

A building owned or leased by a provincial public sector organization (PSO) is in scope for that PSO, if it is not leased to another PSO.

PSOs include all emissions from in-scope buildings in their PSO Climate Change Accountability Report (PSO CCAR).

Use the buildings flow chart to determine which buildings are in scope. 

Flow chart describing when a building is considered in scope.

Buildings ownership and reporting flowchart overview

Do you own or lease this building?

If you own or lease a building it could be in scope. A building could be in scope even if you do not pay for its natural gas or electricity (for example, bills are paid by a tenant).  

If you do not have access to natural gas or electricity consumption amounts, the Carbon Neutral Government (CNG) program provides estimation tools through the Carbon Neutral Government Reporting Tool.

Do you lease it to another PSO?

It can be difficult to know for sure if a tenant is a PSO.

If you are unsure, contact us or read about Public sector organizations.

Described in this section are two common areas of confusion.

Buildings leased to or from municipalities

Municipalities are not PSOs.

  • If you lease any owned buildings or portions of owned buildings to a municipality, you must report the emissions
  • If a municipality leases space to you, those emissions need to be reported by you

Buildings leased to or from federal government organizations

Government of Canada organizations are not PSOs.  

  • If you lease any owned buildings or portions of owned buildings to a federal organization, you must report the emissions
  • If a federal government organization leases space to you, you must report those emissions

Report building emissions through your PSO CCAR

Because you own or lease the building, it is in scope for the CNG program.

For instructions on how to report emissions and create your PSO CCAR, refer to the CNG program requirements.

Do not report building emissions through your PSO CCAR if the building is leased to another PSO

Support your tenant PSO with their reporting. 

Since your tenant PSO is responsible for reporting consumption data for this building you may need to share information with them. If this is the case, make building data available during the annual reporting cycle.

Contact information

For information about carbon neutral government, public sector leadership and for CGRT technical support, email Carbon.Neutral@gov.bc.ca