Vancouver is on track to blow through its climate targets with the use of natural gas to heat buildings driving the majority of greenhouse gas emissions, the city has revealed in its annual climate progress report. Fossil fuel-powered vehicles are the next largest source of emissions, followed by waste and electricity generation.
When the previous annual climate progress report was published in July 2024, Vancouver city councillor Brian Montague introduced a motion to roll back restrictions on gas in new buildings — a motion backed by mayor Ken Sim, who was on vacation at the time but phoned in his vote.
Nearly 60 per cent of the city’s emissions come from gas heating in buildings, the report shows.
Fossil fuel heating is responsible for about 13 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions. Natural gas is composed of methane, a greenhouse gas 80 times more powerful than CO2. Producing and transporting it releases huge volumes of methane gas into the atmosphere, in addition to the CO2 generated when it is burned.
Vancouver’s existing restrictions on using natural gas don’t apply to older buildings. To fully tackle the problem, the city says existing buildings must be retrofitted.
“We definitely need to do more in existing buildings in particular. That’s a challenging area to make progress in,” said Matt Horne, Vancouver’s climate mitigation manager. Many of those buildings weren’t built to be energy efficient, and retrofitting them is often a complicated task that might, for example, mean replacing a roof or changing the heating system of dozens of apartments.
The transition towards electric heating has benefitted the city’s efforts to adapt to the extreme heat fueled by the climate crisis, added Angela Danyluk, Vancouver’s climate adaptation and equity manager.
Vancouver is on track to blow through its climate targets with the use of natural gas to heat buildings driving the majority of greenhouse gas emissions, the city has revealed in its annual climate progress report.
Heat pumps — one of the main technologies that replace gas heating — can also cool buildings, helping mitigate the health impacts of extreme heat. The city is prioritizing efforts to help more people replace their gas appliances with heat pumps, especially those most vulnerable to hot weather, she said.
While Sim’s effort to reverse the ban triggered a “polarized” debate about the city’s gas rules, Horne said that in the months since the motion to reverse restrictions on gas use in buildings was defeated, the transition away from gas “has gone quite smoothly.”
“It’s not to say that the challenges will disappear entirely, but I feel like it’s still trending in a positive direction,” he said.
Last year, the city became the first in BC to phase out the use of gas-powered water heaters in homes. The rules are not a firm ban on gas appliances; however, the only water heaters efficient enough to meet city requirements will be electric.
Under the changes, homeowners spending more than $150,000 on renovations will need to install high-efficiency water heaters starting in February 2025. From January 2027 onward, all replacement water heaters must meet the efficiency requirement.
Canada’s gas industry has given clear signs it will push against efforts to require retrofits in older buildings. The town of Prévost, in Quebec, is the only Canadian municipality so far to restrict gas heating in existing buildings. It banned gas infrastructure in new buildings and required property owners to replace dated gas appliances with more sustainable alternatives. The municipality was hit with a lawsuit filed by Quebec gas utility Énergir days after passing the bylaw.
Gas heating wasn’t the only problem Vancouver faced in meeting its climate targets. The past year has seen a slowdown in EV sales Canada-wide, including in BC, which had long been the most prolific adopter of the vehicles. That’s putting the city’s efforts to reduce emissions linked to transportation — the second-largest source — at risk, the report notes.
The city also doesn’t expect to meet its target to make the city walkable enough that 90 per cent of people can walk to meet their daily needs, and that two-thirds of trips in the city are by bike or public transportation. The only area it plans to meet its targets is in pushing builders to use lower-carbon materials, reducing the emissions built into buildings by 40 per cent compared to 2018.
Despite the city missing its goals, Danyluk emphasized that shouldn’t be a reason to give up.
“Despite the changing headwinds and uncertainty, I have never felt more certain about climate action,” she said. “There is still a lot of time for us to do the good work and the important work and to help the people who are most vulnerable. Let’s go. We can do this. Progress is not linear, so just stay positive, stay focused and strategic.”