Vancouver
Planning, Urban Design, and Sustainability
Climate Action Plan - Carbon Pollution Limits
14231
Executive summary
- This report advances the Climate Emergency Action Plan by introducing carbon pollution limits on the largest office and retail buildings in Vancouver. The proposed limits on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2026, limits on GHGs and heat energy in 2040, combined with the proposed Regulatory Roadmap will reduce GHG emissions from existing buildings 50% by 2030 compared to 2007.
- Most large office and retail building owners have the professional resources to plan and undertake this work. Establishing these limits now prepares building owners and energy utilities to plan for deep emission retrofits and investments in renewable energy, including renewable gas and low carbon district energy. These initial limits will begin to significantly reduce emissions from commercial buildings but are not, on their own, sufficient to meet the 2030 reduction target.
- This report also lays out a supplementary Regulatory Roadmap that establishes additional regulations and programs to be developed to support voluntary action necessary to meet the City’s carbon pollution targets.
- Through streamlining existing regulations and providing a suite of owner supports in partnership with industry, a number of barriers for taking early action and complying with future regulations will be addressed.
Climate implications
- The anticipated GHG reductions by 2030 from the initial carbon pollution regulations on office and retail buildings larger than 9,290 m2 is 24,000 tonnes CO 2e. This represents a 9% reduction in commercial building GHG emissions. This is equivalent to removing 6,000 gasoline fuelled cars from the road. These initial regulations combined with historic energy efficiency efforts, increased supply of renewable energy, and voluntary energy retrofits are anticipated to reduce emissions from commercial buildings by 40% by 2030. Potential future City regulations could reduce these emissions an additional 19%.
- For multifamily buildings, historic increases in emissions since 2007, increases in renewable gas in the base gas blend, proposed regulations in the roadmap, and voluntary retrofit could achieve a 30% reduction in multifamily building GHG emissions by 2030.
- Adoption of these initial regulations will align and support the proposed regional existing building carbon pollution limits by Metro Vancouver, the Provincial government’s proposed update to the Energy Efficiency Act that would require 100% efficient equipment at the time-of-replacement starting in 2030, and the proposed implementation of a stringent Provincial cap on emissions from natural gas.
- Meeting the Climate Emergency Action Plan targets depends on action at all levels of government. The GHG emission reductions achieved since 2007, and the projected future reductions from renewable gas and non-regulated equipment replacement are made possible because of supportive Provincial policies and energy utility action. Staff will continue to collaborate with Metro and the Province in the development of proposed requirements and, if/when they are put in place, assess whether City regulations should be modified to support the success of a broader framework and a simplified policy framework provided it will enable the City to meet its objectives.