"We're trying to elevate the importance of buildings as it relates to an overall climate change plan; right now it's not high on the radar."

That was how Jonathan Westeinde, managing partner of The Windmill Development Group in Ottawa, summarized a new report, released yesterday, from the Commission for Environmental Cooperation.

Westeinde chaired an advisory group behind the report, which calls green building the fastest, cheapest and most effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in North America.

The assertion is signficant, given the investor, entrepreneur and policy focus on reducing CO₂ emissions from vehicles.

Westeinde told Cleantech.com Canada hadn’t included buildings in its recently released carbon cap and trade regulations, because the government does not recognize buildings as a "large emitter" like coal.

"Part of that is because the buildings industry is very fragmented and has a multitude of players," Westeinde said. "But it doesn't excuse not putting in place that same framework when you see such a prize that can be achieved by focusing in that area."

Europe, he noted, had moved ahead through regulatory means.

"Here in North America we like to pride ourselves in smaller government and more market activity." For example, if the government defined a carbon trading framework for buildings, the private sector would react, he said.

Westeinde said the private sector and government need to work together to increase the focus on green building. "I don't think the best solution is for the government to just all of a sudden regulate higher performance standards and that's it," he said. "I think there's ample opportunity for a healthy mix of both."

Though building codes are a driver, Michael DeRosa, managing director of the Radnor, Penn.-based cleantech investment firm Element Partners doesn’t think government intervention is necessary to drive the green building industry. “A lot of green building drivers are purely economical,” he said.

DeRosa also noted the benefit of the CEC’s report to get the ball rolling, compared to the state of green building just a few months ago (See Cleantech.com’s Chickens, eggs and green buildings.)

"A report like this really shows some of our government programs are a little too focused on long-term utopian power generation solutions vs. what we can do right now,” he said.

Incentives and regulations would accelerate the market uptake of “really green” products, agreed Faribault, Minn.-based Sage Electrochromics’ marketing vice president Lou Podbelski.

People are beginning to realize the financial benefits of green building, said Cesar Trevino, president of Mexico’s Green Building Council.

Trevino said services focused on energy efficiency and water savings would be “very quick wins for developers and professionals in the industry.” Among the products he listed were high-performance air conditioning, insulation materials for the building envelop, and water saving fixtures.

Trevino noted that the report’s emphasis on “aggressive national approach” to accelerate the greenhouse gas reduction vision by 2030 has a different meaning for Mexico, given differences in environmental, social and economic issues faced by the three North American countries.

“Our understanding is that we shouldn’t aim for anything less [than the 2030 goal Canada and the U.S. have set], but instead to focus on steps we need to take to catch up.”

One of the essential steps, he said, was to properly analyze and label green products properly. “We’d like to see clear rules for assessing green building materials so the market doesn’t get confused on what’s green,” he said.

“I think we’re in the process of awareness in the sense that this is a new area to be absorbed by the building and construction industry,” he noted.

The benefits of green building are beginning to be understood by mainstream developers, architects, owners and tenants.

The CEC's report could further raise the profiles, and valuations, of public green building materials companies such as Trex (NYSE: TRP) and Headwaters (HYSE: HW), as well as a multitude of private companies like SAGE Electrochromics, Serious Materials, Advanced Glazing, Esco and Hycrete.

With reporting by Cleantech.com's David Ehrlich.