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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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 \u2014 a motion backed by mayor Ken Sim, who was on vacation at the time but phoned in his vote.<\/p>\n
Nearly 60 per cent of the city’s emissions come from gas heating in buildings, the report shows.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Vancouver’s existing restrictions on using natural gas don\u2019t apply to older buildings. To fully tackle the problem, the city says existing buildings must be retrofitted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
Heat pumps \u2014 one of the main technologies that replace gas heating \u2014 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
“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.\u00a0<\/p>\n