Event Description

When regulation meets reality, how do we balance accountability with flexibility?

Regulators play a critical role in shaping building decarbonization efforts—but the way requirements are structured can create competing priorities. Programs are expected to deliver measurable results and meet compliance targets, while also adapting to new technologies, evolving data and shifting market conditions.

In this session of the Building Performance Standards Summer Line-Up series, you’ll explore how regulatory frameworks influence program design and behavior—and why balancing accountability with flexibility is often challenging in practice. We’ll examine how rigid compliance structures can limit innovation, and how more adaptive approaches can support learning and stronger long-term outcomes.

Through real-world examples from jurisdictions working to strike this balance, you’ll gain practical frameworks to assess and improve regulatory design.

Whether you’re working within regulatory requirements or helping shape them, this session will help you navigate these trade-offs and support more effective program outcomes.

You’ll leave this session able to:
• Recall how regulatory structures influence program design and behavior
• Explain the tension between accountability and experimentation in regulatory design
• Analyze regulatory frameworks for innovation-friendliness
• Evaluate compliance structures for unintended consequences
• Design regulatory approaches that enable adaptive management