The Municipality of Colchester is advancing Green Development Standards (GDS) as a tool to support its Carbon-Free Colchester Community Energy and Emissions Plan (CEEP) and the Province of Nova Scotia’s broader climate and sustainability objectives. The intent is to design a voluntary, incentive-based framework that encourages higher-performance development while remaining feasible, administrable, and appropriate for Colchester’s diverse urban and rural contexts.
The core objectives of this project are to develop a suite of incentive and value-added options to encourage the construction of energy-efficient, low-emissions and climate-resilient new buildings. The GDS will establish clear and practical pathways to define how applicants qualify for incentives.
The Colchester Green Development Standards are being developed over the next several months with the oversight of a core staff team from the municipality and representatives from the Clean Foundation. Opportunities to engage in the process will be posted on this page, so please check back for meeting dates.
Engagement Opportunities
Virtual Workshop
A virtual Public Workshop on Colchester's Green Development Standards was held on Tuesday, July 7, 2026 at 6pm. pdf Colchester GDS Presentation(2.67 MB)
The core objectives of the project are to develop a suite of incentive and value-added options to encourage the construction of energy-efficient, low-emissions and climate-resilient new buildings. The GDS will establish clear and practical pathways to define how applicants qualify for incentives.
The virtual workshop began with an introduction to Green Development Standards - what they are, what their benefits are, and how they are implemented by municipalities. Preliminary thoughts on the ten topics to be covered in the Green Development Standards were discussed:
- Community design and land use
- Sustainable transportation
- Energy and operational carbon
- Embodied carbon and materials
- Water efficiency
- Stormwater and green infrastructure
- Climate resilience and heat
- Ecologyy and biodiversity
- Indoor environmental quality
- Equity, accessibility and community benefits
If you have thoughts to share please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.