Vancouver City Council reverses climate progress in shocking last-minute vote to permit more pollution from new buildings

VANCOUVER/UNCEDED xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (MUSQUEAM), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (SQUAMISH) AND səlilwətaɬ (TSLEIL-WAUTUTH) TERRITORIES – In a stunning and deeply disappointing move, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim zoomed in to a council meeting Tuesday night from his vacation to cast a tie-breaking vote to reverse one of the city’s flagship climate policies. 

The last-minute council decision on July 23 to relax climate pollution rules for new buildings sets Vancouver on a very different course from its longstanding approach to climate leadership, and puts it at odds with the progress being made by surrounding municipalities. 

“It’s infuriating to see one surprise amendment undo years of thoughtful work from city staff, including extensive stakeholder consultations,” Stand.earth Senior Campaigns Director Liz McDowell said. “Building all-electric is one of the easiest and most affordable actions that we can take to protect communities from increasing climate disasters. From deadly heat domes to extreme wildfires, droughts and storms, these disasters are already costing B.C. communities billions of dollars. Rolling back this long-standing bylaw is unconscionable. It’s a choice akin to voluntarily returning to lead paint or materials containing asbestos because they’re cheaper to source, or declining to install fire escapes on buildings in order to save developers money. Mayor Sim must recognize the risks of these short-sighted calculations.”

The amendment undid a key 2020 bylaw requiring new buildings to be heated with energy efficient electric appliances, mainly heat pumps — an approach that has now been adopted across the greater Vancouver region where 12 communities have passed similar policies through the provincial Zero Carbon Step Code and seven more are considering following suit. At Tuesday night’s council meeting, City of Vancouver staff confirmed that building all-electric does not impact the cost of ownership for homebuyers and, in fact, data shows that heating costs are comparable or lower with a highly efficient heat pump when compared to a gas furnace.

“It’s disingenuous to pretend this is about affordability, when heat pumps are far more efficient to operate than gas furnaces and four years of data from Vancouver shows that building all-electric doesn’t impact the sale price of a home for consumers,” McDowell said. “At a moment where local communities across the province are taking action to make buildings safer and affordable for residents by requiring electric heating and cooling, Vancouver is now moving completely out of step with the rest of the region. Councillor Brian Montague’s amendment and a press release from the Mayor’s office both echo FortisBC talking points nearly word for word. I am led to wonder what’s really behind this decision and whether this surprise reversal was in fact a direct result of gas industry lobbying. It’s hard to imagine what else could motivate such an abrupt change in course. Vancouver City Council needs to act immediately to reverse this ill-advised move and restore a climate-safe policy.”

The City of Vancouver is currently not on track to meet its climate goals. Burning gas in buildings is responsible for close to 60% of Vancouver’s climate pollution, and modeling shows that transitioning over to highly efficient electric space and water heating would dramatically slash these emissions, since electricity is 16 times less polluting than gas. Building new homes with heat pumps instead of gas furnaces also automatically provides indoor cooling, making vulnerable residents safer during extreme heat events. Policies to reduce the pollution from buildings are also popular: a recent poll conducted by Leger found that 67% of BC residents think that the province should require heat pumps in all new buildings in Metro Vancouver and other warmer climate zones across B.C. 

“Heat pumps provide energy efficiency and cost savings, and a majority of B.C. residents agree that these updated technologies should be required to heat and cool new buildings now,” Stand.earth Climate Campaigner Sunil Singal said. “Buildings that are constructed today will likely still be around in 2050, so why not build them correctly the first time, instead of saddling residents with costly retrofits down the road? This abrupt about-face will only result in confusion for building industry members, who have repeatedly asked for predictability and consistency.”

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Media contact:

Cari Barcas, Communications Director, cari.barcas@stand.earth