What will it mean to be Future Ready® in 2026?
With infrastructure investments continuing to rise across the country, technology advancing at a rapid rate, and the severity of extreme weather events increasing, now is the time to understand how best to be prepared for what comes next. The economic, social and environmental choices made this year will compound over the next 30 years. How will today’s decisions shape long-term resilience, equity, and outcomes, and how do you ensure they deliver positive impact for tomorrow?
Based on the efforts we have seen with our clients in 2025 and recent years, as well as the direction we must take over the next 30 years, we have identified six essential deliverables that organizations need to address in the year ahead. Focusing on these areas will help organizations achieve real progress toward resilience and sustainability, balancing growth, responsibility, and stewardship amid rapid change.
Make AI visible in operations
Artificial intelligence (AI) is gaining widespread use, and companies that use it well to address their own needs are moving beyond pilots to deployment, seeing real benefits for their operations.
In 2026, deploy one AI use case that measurably shifts a core operational key performance indicator (KPI), such as downtime, energy intensity, throughput, or incident response time. Define the baseline and target upfront, then validate results with clear measurement and reporting.
To ensure the impact is durable and scalable, document data quality and lineage, model governance (roles, controls, monitoring), and the change-management plan that embeds the new workflow into day-to-day operations.
Put one AI use case into production that delivers a verified ≥10% improvement in a single operational KPI (e.g., ≥10% increase in uptime/availability or ≥10% reduction in unplanned downtime) by Q4 2026, with monthly reporting against the baseline.
Executives increasingly expect evidence of realized value from AI, not just the promise of future benefits. While it’s important to launch at least one AI use case that demonstrably delivers results, organizations shouldn’t build a one-off solution optimized for a single outcome. Instead, they should architect AI deployments as extensible platforms, allowing additional use cases to be integrated over time.
Electrify with integration discipline
As the electrification of the Canadian economy continues, so too does the need to create operational electric infrastructure. This includes electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure and energy storage solutions.
In 2026, companies should be looking to deliver on an integration milestone, a concrete step towards the creation of the operational infrastructure needed. In 2026, deliver one integration milestone. For example, commissioning a site‑level EV charging + energy storage package integrated with building energy management and demand response. Pair the technical step with an economic recovery plan (tariff optimization, peak‑shaving value, incentives) and a grid interconnection path.
At priority sites, install EV charging for at least 10% of parking spaces and make 25% of spaces EV-ready, aligning with leading municipal standards and near-term scale-up pathways.
Integrating EV assets acts both as a value-add for the property and an amenity for employees/visitors. Transitioning from gasoline-fueled power generation for emergencies to storage can help meet both emissions and resilience goals. These can help meet short-term targets while addressing long-term needs.
Convert climate pilots into standard practice
Many companies have been conducting one-off pilots or experiments related to disaster mitigation and adaptation, investing in short-term solutions to test/understand long-term viability.
In 2026, move to a repeatable resilience playbook that is embedded in capital planning and operations and maintenance (O&M). Define clear triggers for action (e.g., flood-depth thresholds, extreme-heat days, wind/ice forecasts), establish dedicated funding lines (baseline plus contingency), and assign accountable owners across facilities, risk, and finance to activate, execute, and review measures when thresholds are met.
Implement the playbook across 100% of critical sites, define triggers for the top three hazards, and run two exercises in 2026 (one tabletop and one operations-based drill) with funded corrective actions assigned within 30 days of each exercise.
Many companies and institutions have publicly tied themselves to adaptation, climate and/or resilience goals on the horizon. To meet these nearing targets, funded implementation of disaster resilience solutions, both newly developed and part of long-term asset management, must be achieved.
Put circularity into contracts and design briefs
Materials disposal has become a growing issue for asset owners, as municipal landfills run out of space and companies look for ways to engage in stronger recycling opportunities, such as the emerging steel recycling industry. Schematic and preliminary designs rarely include requirements for recyclable or upcycled material use.
In 2026, build building-material requirements into procurement and contracting. Introduce clauses that set minimum thresholds for end-of-use recyclability—the share of materials with viable recycling pathways—and for recycled or low-carbon content in specified high-impact materials (e.g., steel, concrete, asphalt). Enable compliant substitutions early in schematic design and plan for incremental costs by distributing them transparently across project budgets.
Write circularity into the contract: require ≥75% construction & demolition waste diversion and set minimum material thresholds, e.g., concrete specs that allow typical SCM replacement ranges (such as 25% fly ash or higher slag blends where appropriate) and asphalt mixes that permit 20% RAP as a default starting point—approved by schematic design.
To date, many circularity efforts have remained pilots or one-off experiments—for example, reclaiming and reusing steel members, specifying salvaged finishes, or incorporating recycled-content concrete and asphalt. In 2026, circularity will only scale when it is embedded in procurement and contracting, with clear requirements and any incremental costs distributed transparently across the full project budget.
Treat cybersecurity as a critical infrastructure control
In 2025, we saw numerous news headlines of companies, institutions and governments under attack from cyber threats to digital infrastructure. When extorted payouts were necessary, these bodies paid out millions of dollars each to remove the threat and restore their systems.
In 2026, close critical IT/OT gaps identified by recent incidents and audits, and complete role‑based hiring to sustain defences. Regulators, investors, insurers, and Boards now expect documented remediation plans. Market standing erodes if critical vulnerabilities are exposed.
By the end of Q2 2026, enforce MFA on 100% of privileged accounts, segment IT and OT networks (with controlled zones/DMZ), and maintain zero “past-due” Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) on mission-critical or internet-exposed systems.
Tie Indigenous partnership and equity actions to delivery
There has been a noticeable shift from broad rhetoric to more explicit expectations around meaningful engagement, collaboration, and long-term partnership between asset owners/developers and Indigenous communities.
In 2026, formalize co‑designed projects, governance roles, and procurement share with Indigenous partners, and publish outcome metrics (jobs, revenue share, training hours, cultural safety measures).
Set a minimum Indigenous procurement target of 5% of total addressable spend and publish outcome metrics twice per year (e.g., jobs, training hours, contract value, community-benefit measures) tied to named projects and governance owners.
Indigenous partnership is an explicit goal for many companies and asset owners, but discussions and partnership agreements must be backed by measurable actions to build credibility.
Across these six deliverables, one theme stands out: execution clarity. With 2026 emerging as a delivery year, leaders must translate pilots into funded programs with dates, accountable owners, and measurable outcomes. Even if your end targets extend beyond 2026, starting now creates the evaluation time and long lead runway needed to scale what works, address gaps, and raise the next set of benchmarks with confidence.
Start with a focused 90-day plan: pick two deliverables with the highest risk/reward, define the KPI or trigger, budget line, and accountable owner for each, and schedule the first milestone. Then move, decisively, from intent to implementation. If needed, we can host an alignment session to help map these actions to your portfolio and approve the first site or project so 2026 isn’t a talking point, it’s proof.
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