Hundreds of B.C. business people ask Vancouver to reinstate gas ban

Hundreds of homebuilders, restaurateurs, food providers and other entrepreneurs are asking Vancouver's municipal council to reinstate the city's ban on natural gas in new buildings. 

In a Tuesday letter, about 150 business people asked city council to "reconsider" its controversial July decision to void the ban created in 2020 to prevent builders from putting natural gas piping and other infrastructure in new buildings. Vancouver was the first Canadian city to implement this type of ban that inspired other municipalities across the country to follow its lead and infuriated Canada's gas lobby. 

The decision by Mayor Ken Sim's ruling party to reverse the ban came as a shock to observers. Reporting since the July council meeting, where the measure was approved, has highlighted close links between the mayor's senior advisor, David Grewal, and the natural gas industry. Final approval for the change is expected to be voted on in the coming weeks. 

Buildings are responsible for about 55 per cent of Vancouver's greenhouse gas emissions. City staff have noted even with the 2020 restrictions on natural gas use, the city is not on track to meet its 2030 climate goals.

"The changes that had been made to building in Vancouver around natural gas are a step in the right direction," said Sonia Strobel, co-founder and CEO of Skipper Otto, one of the letter's signatories. "We have to work together and we need consistency – we can't have regulations going back and forth."

The letter comes days after dozens of Vancouver construction industry leaders made a similar request to city council. The city's affordability crisis "is not the result of current emissions limits for new buildings," they wrote. Building costs are far more influenced by financing rates, permitting times and fees, labour, equipment and material costs, and land values than emissions requirements, they noted. 

An October survey conducted by the Zero Emissions Innovation Centre (ZEIC), an organization dedicated to making cities less carbon-intensive, found that borrowing costs and land values were by far the most influential elements increasing the cost of new developments in the province. Respondents found that emissions rules and energy-efficiency requirements, like Vancouver's natural gas ban, were widely considered to have minimal impacts on costs. 

"It's possible to build these climate friendly, energy efficient homes and air quality and so forth at cost parity, or even sometimes less than code-minimum homes with gas-fired appliances in them," said Roberto Percora, the organization's director of building decarbonization. "This is something that you don't often hear about, while misinformation or risks are being over-exaggerated in the public domain." 

The survey was circulated through ZEIC newsletters and mailing lists, reaching a "significant tranche" of B.C.'s building sector — but not everyone, he said. 

Several analyses – including from B.C. Hydro, B.C. Housing and Clean Energy Canada – say installing electric heating systems like heat pumps in new buildings typically costs the same amount as using gas, or less. City of Vancouver staff have also found that building all-electric homes doesn't impact the cost of ownership and heating costs are comparable between using a heat pump and a gas furnace.

The fight over Vancouver's natural gas rules comes amidst a province-wide battle between municipal governments trying to implement similar restrictions and Canada's natural gas industry. For years, the industry has led an aggressive lobbying and misinformation campaign to prevent other communities from restricting gas use, using everything from secretive lobbying meetings to creating online front groups. 

A handful of lobby groups has also joined the fray, with one of the most prolific – the B.C. Coalition for Affordable, Dependable Energy (BCCADE) – attacking the rules through op-eds and other public appearances, despite offering minimal evidence to back up their claims.

"There is often an argument that says [the gas rules] are harming the business communities," said Strobel. "It's important for us in the business community to stand up and say this isn't harming us. We have the responsibility, as business owners, to adapt and make changes in the face of the climate crisis."