The Fourth Annual Healthy Cities Virtual Conference

David Messer

David Messer is Executive Director of the Climate Smart Buildings Alliance (CSBA or “Caz-Bah”), a joint initiative of 11 leading organization in the building sector including EllisDon, RBC, Mattamy Homes, AtkinsRealis, Wesgroup, Dialog, PCL and CIBC aimed at leading and accelerating the transition to net-zero in the buildings sector. David was previously part of the team and then Executive Director of the Guelph Smart Cities Office where he led two major circular economy initiatives, Our Food Future – which aimed to build a regional circular food economy,  and COIL, a circular economy business accelerator that worked with over 130 companies across Canada. David has a long history of working on policy and systems change as part of the Governments of Ontario and Alberta, within industry associations and as a consultant in the private sector.  

As the leader (and until recently only employee) of CSBA, David is driving seven targeted initiatives aimed at driving systems level change in the buildings sector. These include launching the Responsible Buildings Pact, a cross-industry governance framework aimed at ensuring the consistent consideration and use of lower-carbon materials wherever they make sense. Since launching in June 2024, 47 of Canada’s leading developers, architects, structural engineers and general contractors have joined the Pact. He is also working with 40 organizations on a pilot to reduce insurance costs for mass timber (a major barrier), with Hydro Ottawa and about 17 financial organizations on a pilot to improve financing for retrofits of commercial buildings, and Canada’s National Research Council to stand up a living lab to optimize building design for lifetime cost and carbon.s.