Vancouver City Council voted Thursday to lift its ban on new residential natural gas connections, after residents successfully rallied against a similar motion in 2024.
Mayor Ken Sim introduced Motion 8, the second major attempt to roll back the gas heating ban, on May 13, to wide public outcry. The motion also mandates [pdf] a review of Vancouver's standalone building code, the Vancouver Building By-law (VBBL), and eliminates Energize Vancouver-the City program mandating emissions reporting for commercial buildings.
Critics, including Stand.earth climate campaigner Sunil Singal, call it a massive rollback of Vancouver's climate policies.
"Ken Sim's motion has now gutted Vancouver's leadership as an innovator in the country for how to reduce pollution from buildings," Singal told The Energy Mix.
The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) condemned Vancouver City Council's decision to pass the motion. CAPE representative Dr. Maura Brown, a Vancouver-based physician, said in an emailed statement: "This decision flies in the face of public health evidence, and doctors will be seeing the harmful consequences in our communities for decades." Gas commonly leaks from home appliances, exposing residents to benzene, a carcinogen to which "there is no safe level of exposure."
"Renters, who make up over half of Vancouver's population, will bear the brunt of these health risks with no way to protect themselves," Brown said.
More than 120 speakers signed up to speak at a public hearing on May 20, which extended to May 21. The majority of speakers opposed the motion, with only 18 speaking for it.
Since 2016, Vancouver has been on a path to gradually phase out natural gas for space and water heating in most new building types by 2025. In 2022, Council voted to phase out gas for space and hot water heating in new low-rise residential construction. In July 2024, after local elections changed the voting balance on Council, Sim made a surprise move to reverse the ban. In November 2024, after wide outcry at a public hearing, councillors voted 5-5 to reinstate the ban.
Motion 8 directs staff to research ways to bring Vancouver's building bylaw into alignment with the provincial building code and to provide justification for divergences.
Former councillor and British Columbia Housing Minister Christine Boyle wrote to Sim [pdf] asking him to hold off on any changes. The province is currently reviewing the costs and impacts of the Energy and the Zero Carbon Step Codes, which govern climate standards for buildings across B.C. Changes to local regulation would add uncertainty and delay to their review, Boyle wrote to Sim on Tuesday.
Sim described Boyle's letter as an "11th-hour attempt to intervene" on a city debate over "energy choice and affordability," declaring that "It is the right of Vancouver City Council to debate and pass these policies without undue pressure from a provincial cabinet minster."
Motion 8 cites "regulatory divergence" as an affordability concern and industry barrier to build and permit new developments. But several speakers from housing consulting firms, construction firms, and the local business community said Vancouver City Council's repeated flip-flops on building policy create more expensive uncertainty for developers.
"In November 2024, the building industry was clear with Vancouver City Council: hold steady on energy and emissions requirements for new builds. Builders had invested in better practices and found ways to deliver better buildings more cost-competitively," Robert Pecora, director of building decarbonization at the Zero Emissions Innovation Centre (ZEIC), told The Mix in an email.
Councillors Sean Orr and Pete Frye and multiple speakers also questioned the role of fossil fuel and natural gas lobbyists in the decision. Sim Senior Advisor David Grewal concurrently leads two private liquefied natural gas firms.
"Both the province and the federal government have said this is not the right move," said Singal. This does not bring affordability. So it really begs the question, who is Ken Sim doing this for?"
At the hearing, Sim pointed a finger at Ottawa and the provincial government in Victoria. "Prime Minister Carney and Premier Eby are strongly in favour of natural gas development," said Sim. "Why would we ship our gas to China and ban it in Vancouver?"
Source: The Energy Mix
