2026 Sustainability Trends Every Facility Manager Needs to Know

Discover the top 5 sustainability trends facility managers need to know in 2026—from performance standards to IAQ, refrigerants, and more.

Ava Montini

Jan 20, 2026

Written by

Published on

A new year, new pressures

For facility and energy managers, 2026 is not just another lap around the operations cycle. The stakes are rising across the built environment: carbon targets are evolving from voluntary goals to enforceable standards, utility grids are growing more dynamic, and your systems are being asked to deliver more than comfort—they’re being asked to demonstrate climate performance.

This change comes at a moment when global energy demand is accelerating. In 2024, energy demand rose 2.2% globally (faster than the decade-long average), while electricity demand jumped 4.3%, driven by electrification, extreme weather, and digital growth. IEA In the buildings sector alone, electricity use increased by over 600 TWh (5%), accounting for nearly 60% of total growth in global electricity use. IEA Blob Storage And forecasts suggest this upward trend will continue: the U.S. Energy Information Administration projects that global energy consumption will grow through 2050, outpacing efficiency gains unless stronger policies intervene. EIA

The challenge is that these changes don’t arrive all at once or in obvious ways. They show up gradually—through updated codes, shifting tariffs, new equipment standards, and increasing expectations from tenants and investors. The upside is that facility and energy managers, once working mostly behind the scenes, are now central to turning sustainability commitments into measurable results.

Here are five sustainability trends shaping 2026, and why each matters for the decisions you’ll make in your mechanical rooms, dashboards, and boardrooms.

1. Building Performance Standards Move from Paper to Practice

A decade ago, sustainability reporting was a quarterly or annual exercise filed internally or sent to corporate. Today, Building Performance Standards (BPS) are shifting that paradigm: they tie a building’s actual energy use and emissions to regulatory thresholds, making performance more than just a nice-to-have.

Across the U.S., BPS and similar mandates now exist in nine localities and three states, with penalties or compliance mechanisms for underperforming buildings. (ACEEE) In Canada, cities like Vancouver have already adopted performance standards, and other municipalities are actively exploring similar rules. (Efficiency Canada) Natural Resources Canada also recognizes that BPS policies enable jurisdictions to regulate energy or emissions in existing buildings. (Natural Resources Canada)

Europe is several steps ahead. Through the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, member states are required to set minimum energy performance standards for existing buildings and align them with long-term decarbonization goals. That trajectory suggests North America is likely to follow a similar path, with more cities and provinces phasing in binding performance requirements over the next decade.

For facility teams, this is a shift in mindset: hitting a design target isn’t enough. What matters now is day-to-day performance. Keeping HVAC systems tuned, filters low-pressure, ventilation right-sized, and carbon data tracked continuously.

Treat compliance not as a one-off capital project, but as a persistent operations program. Teams that build strong discipline in data, trending, and low-cost O&M measures (filter swaps, economizer tuning, drift checks) will free up budget (and carbon headroom) to take on higher-stakes retrofits later.

2. Grid-interactive buildings become the norm

The grid you’re tied into is no longer a fixed backdrop. It’s dynamic. As renewables rise, carbon intensity swings hour by hour. In many regions, the grid’s carbon intensity can vary by over 1,000 g CO₂/kWh between low and high hours. EnergyTag

This variability is why hourly accounting, not annual averages, is becoming the standard: studies find that relying solely on yearly emission factors can bias carbon inventories by as much as 35 %, especially in areas with high grid variability. itspubs.ucdavis.edu

For facility managers, your job isn’t just to reduce consumption, but rather to shift it. Running air handlers or pushing large loads at 3 p.m. on a carbon-intensive grid can erase much of the value of your efficiency gains. But shifting that same load to cleaner hours can multiply your CO₂e savings.

Buildings that provide demand flexibility (the ability to curtail, shift, or modulate loads) not only ease grid stress but also help integrate renewables and reduce emissions. ScienceDirect The U.S. DOE’s Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings (GEB) initiative explicitly frames buildings as potential distributed energy resources (DERs) that can respond to grid signals. The Department of Energy's Energy

Facilities that align their systems with grid conditions will capture more carbon value, reduce costs, and position themselves for utility incentives and grid services.

3. Indoor Air Quality and Energy Are No Longer Trade-Offs

The pandemic showed that “just add more outside air” is not a sustainable strategy. It drove home the fact that healthier air doesn’t have to mean higher energy bills. In 2023, ASHRAE Standard 241 introduced the concept of Equivalent Clean Airflow (ECAi): a performance-based framework that lets you meet air quality targets with the right combination of ventilation, filtration, and air cleaning instead of defaulting to maximum outdoor air. (ASHRAE)

This matters even more in 2026 because the carbon penalty of over-ventilation is steep. Conditioning excess outside air can account for a significant share of building energy use, especially in regions with temperature or humidity extremes. U.S. EPA modelling has shown that raising outdoor air rates from 5 to 20 cfm per person can sharply increase HVAC energy costs, depending on the climate and system type. (EPA)

The opportunity is to deliver the same (or better) air quality at a lower energy cost. Low-pressure, high-efficiency filtration plays a central role here. Studies show that filter design, not just MERV rating, dictates pressure drop and energy impact. Well-engineered filters with optimized media and geometry can deliver higher capture efficiency at lower resistance than standard pleated filters, reducing fan energy while still supporting ASHRAE 241 clean-air goals. (ScienceDirect)

The play in 2026: pair low-pressure filtration with calibrated demand-controlled ventilation (DCV) and proven air cleaning technologies. Together, they provide safe indoor air with the lowest possible energy penalty. IAQ and carbon goals don’t have to compete. They can reinforce each other when filtration efficiency and system pressure are managed by design.

4. Refrigerant rules shift the replacement playbook

If you’re spec’ing new HVAC or refrigeration equipment in 2026, refrigerant selection matters just as much as capacity. Under the U.S. AIM Act, the EPA is phasing down production and consumption of high-GWP HFCs—aiming to cut them to just 15% of historic baseline levels by mid-2030s. US EPA That transition is pushing the market toward A2L (mildly flammable, low-GWP) alternatives like R-32 and R-454B. Energy Codes

For facility teams, two priorities stand out:

(1) Safety, training & codes readiness

A2L refrigerants bring new safety nuances. Contractors and service teams must be trained, and local codes (leak detection, ventilation, charge limits) must be understood and enforced. Manufacturers are already shifting product lines to A2Ls to align with the 2025 compliance timelines. Energy Codes

(2) Leak management as carbon strategy

Refrigerant emissions are Scope 1 emissions—direct, onsite greenhouse gas releases that come from leaks, servicing losses, or disposal. ASHE Because many HFCs have very high global warming potentials (GWP) (often hundreds to thousands of times higher than CO₂)a pound of refrigerant lost can translate into a large carbon penalty. GHG Protocol

Legacy systems may lose 20–30% of their refrigerant charge over time without an obvious performance impact. U.S. General Services Administration These silent leaks are hidden carbon drains, often overlooked in efficiency planning.

5. From Projects to Performance

Retrofitting systems may win attention, but the real win in 2026 is locking in performance over time. Field studies and commissioning guides show that, without sustained monitoring and correction, buildings can lose 10–30 % of their efficiency gains within a few years, due to drift, sensor faults, coil fouling, or control logic degradation.

Enter Monitoring-Based Commissioning (MBCx) and Fault Detection & Diagnostics (FDD). These aren’t big capital projects—they’re everyday practices that keep systems efficient. Research from ASME shows that automated fault detection in RTUs and HVAC systems can cut significant energy waste.

In one office building study, trend analytics flagged simultaneous heating and cooling, broken economizers, and poor control sequencing. Once fixed, the building’s energy use dropped by 10%. The takeaway is simple: continuous monitoring finds waste fast, and fixing it pays off immediately.

What this means for facility leaders in 2026:

Move away from treating projects as one-and-done.
Build dashboards that track energy, ventilation, fan motor indices, and carbon in parallel.
Use automated alerts to flag deviations in real time.
Make MBCx + FDD the standard part of your operations budget—not a side project.

Utility bills stay low, carbon footprints shrink, and your buildings stay compliant and efficient—without waiting for the next big retrofit.

2026 rewards operators

In 2026, sustainability progress will come from strong day-to-day operations. Facility and energy managers who focus on performance standards, grid-smart scheduling, healthy air, refrigerant planning, and continuous monitoring will find they already have the tools to deliver real results.

The equipment in your building doesn’t need to change overnight. What matters is how it’s managed. Every optimized filter, tuned control, and well-timed ventilation cycle adds up, lowering carbon, controlling costs, and building resilience.

This is the year where facility operations show their true strength: turning routine decisions into measurable sustainability gains.

A Closer Look At The Common Types of HVAC Filters and Their Benefits

Jennifer Crowley
Aug 2, 2023
4 min read

Updated: Jul 19, 2024

A row of differing types of HVAC filters stacked vertically — Understanding the different air filter types for your space is the first step to improving and managing indoor air quality.

Trying to find the best air filter for your indoor space can be a daunting task, especially with all the different types available. Different HVAC filters cater to different space sizes, types of occupancy and, most importantly, the type of air quality required.

Understanding the different air filter types for your space is the first step to improving and managing indoor air quality. There are five commonly used HVAC air filters:

Pleated Media Filters
Fiberglass Air Filters
Electrostatic Filters
UV-C Supplemental Air Sanitization
HEPA HVAC Filters

What MERV rating should I use?

Before we get into detail about the types of filters, it’s important to understand what a MERV rating is and how it applies to air filters. MERV ratings or Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value is a measurement system created by ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) to signify an air filter’s effectiveness. The MERV rating of your air filter should coincide with your indoor air quality needs.

What does MERV mean for air filters?

The higher a filter’s MERV rating, the more effective it is at capturing smaller airborne particles.

Detailed chart comparing MERV ratings for HVAC filters to allow you to select the correct rating for your needs — The MERV rating of your air filter should coincide with your indoor air quality needs.

Fibre-Glass Air Filters

Fibreglass filters are a type of non-pleated filter alongside electronic and electrostatic air filters. Non-pleated air filters, also known as disposable filters, are less expensive and most effective for large particles, such as lint, dust and even insects.

Non-pleated air filters are not designed to last very long. However, you can choose to buy metal-reinforced fibreglass filters for extra rigidity. Their MERV rating is between 1 and 4 (low). Their main purpose is to protect your HVAC unit from large dust particles; however, they do not trap mould, pollen, or other small particles and are not recommended for homes with people with allergies.

One of the biggest benefits of buying non-pleated filters is that they fit any type and model of HVAC system and are quite inexpensive.

Advantages:

When compared to pleated filters, or other more effective options for air filtration, the fibre-glass filters are relatively cheaper.
Fit in any type and model of an HVAC system.

Disadvantages:

Not effective at removing small particles.
Fibreglass clogs up relatively fast, and as a result, it must be changed more often, or your air handler will have to work extremely hard and use a lot of energy to compensate.

Pleated Media HVAC Filters

Pleated filters have a fabric medium commonly made of polyester or cotton and are designed so that the surface area increases and is able to hold large amounts of sediments whilst minimizing the reduction in airflow. As a result, pleated filters are more efficient than non-pleated filters at capturing microscopic airborne particles. Pleated filters can successfully filter:

Dust mites
Dust
Pollen
Mould
Pet dander
Other smaller bacterias

Advantages:

The pleats in these filters give them an advantage over non-pleated options because they increase the filter’s surface area for better filtering.
Pleated filters are available in multiple MERV ratings, ranging from MERV 5 and 13.

Disadvantages:

The downside to pleated filters is that they require your HVAC system to work a little harder to pull air through the unit; this may result in your HVAC system losing pressure.

Electrostatic Filters

An electrostatic filter induces an electrostatic charge to any and all particulates that pass through the air cleaner. This allows pathogens to be easily removed from the air with oppositely charged fibre media that act like magnets.

Electrostatic polarized filters, in particular, are a type of electrostatic filter and perform exceptionally well in removing sub-micron particles less than 1 micron in size. Let’s take the example of a magnet; polarized technology works similarly to how magnets’ positive and negative sides attract each other.

Polarization is the process of inducing an electrostatic charge to any and all particulates that pass through the air cleaner. This allows pathogens to be easily removed from the air with oppositely charged fibre media that act like magnets.

The charged polarized particles attach with other polarized particles as they collide in the air, creating a “polarized field.” This field binds the submicron particles, allowing the air cleaner to capture even the smallest particles.

Advantages:

Most electrostatic polarized filters can capture particles 40x smaller than standard filters.
Unlike electrostatic ionizing filter technology, polarized filters do not emit ozone.

Disadvantages:

Best suited for large commercial spaces. Electrostatic polarized filters are the best option in HVAC systems and buildings where enhanced air quality is required but a HEPA filter is not practical.

UVGI Supplemental Air Sanitization

Ultraviolet radiation is a type of electromagnetic radiation that carries a short wavelength and a higher level of energy. UVC light is the type of UV light that’s most effective at killing germs. It can be used to disinfect surfaces, air, and liquids.

Specifically, UV-C is effective at killing fungi, bacteria, germs, viruses, and other pathogens. For this reason, UV lights have common applications in sterilizing hospitals, water, germicidal lamps in food establishments, and HVAC systems. UV-C has demonstrated the ability to effectively and safely inactivate the SARS-CoV-2 virus up to 99.9%.

Advantages:

The ultraviolet radiation used in these filters is strong and can destroy tough microorganisms such as viruses, bacteria, mould, and yeast.
There is no added static pressure to existing HVAC systems.

Disadvantages:

UV-C does come at a greater cost than most other filters, but the good news is that this level of filtration is not required in most buildings.

HEPA Filters

High-efficiency particulate air filters are recommended by the Centers of Diseases Control and Prevention and are able to remove up to 99.97% of the air-borne pollutants and allergens present in your home, including dust, mould, pollen, pet dander, viruses, smoke particles, and bacteria. As a result, those who live with allergies or other respiratory issues truly benefit from HEPA filters.

These filters do need to be adjusted by a contractor to fit your specific HVAC system.

Advantages:

It helps to remove large and small air-borne pollutants and allergens present in your home.
Most HEPA filters only need to be replaced every few years, making them very cost-effective.

Disadvantages:

Smaller particles like smoke, fumes, or gasses can still pass through the filter.
Their high filtering ability might restrict airflow, causing your HVAC system’s efficiency to drop.

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