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A Vancouver where everyone can maintain a safe planet for their children

Whether it’s wildfire smoke filling our skies, torrential downpours destroying our infrastructure, rising grocery prices eating away our budgets or record temperatures putting our neighbours in danger, Vancouverites are feeling the impacts of a warming world. OneCity Councillor Christine Boyle championed the Climate Emergency Action Plan and will make sure Vancouver has the funding and support it needs to meet its commitment to halve emissions by 2030 while prioritizing equity and justice.

OneCity knows the climate emergency requires us to change many aspects of daily life, which is why solutions appear throughout our platform — especially in our housing and transportation policies.

 

Build better buildings

 Vancouver’s homes, workplaces and public spaces create most of the city’s climate pollution. In fact, 54 per cent of climate pollution in Vancouver comes from burning gas in buildings. We need to construct buildings that don’t pollute and renovate the ones that do.

OneCity will make sure all new buildings are built to last and every building gets the upgrades it needs to produce no climate pollution by 2050.

  1. Mandate cooling in all homes and buildings to prepare for future heat waves. Require air conditioning with electric heat pumps by 2030, along with other cooling methods such as installing external shutters, to ensure homes remain below 26 degrees during heat waves.
  2. Ban the installation of new gas appliances like stoves and fireplaces in existing homes to eliminate pollution, improve air quality, and prevent asthma. And ban gas hook-ups entirely from new homes and buildings. 
  3. Require gas furnaces and boilers be replaced with electric heat pumps when they reach the end of their natural life or by 2035. Ensure replacement costs are not passed on to tenants.
  4. Provide incentives for building owners to permanently disconnect from natural gas service.
  5. Require all district energy facilities in Vancouver to fully decarbonize their operations.
  6. Accelerate permitting and limit paperwork for large buildings to upgrade energy efficiency and electrify space and water heating. 
  7. Work with trade schools to increase industry capacity for energy efficiency upgrades including heat pump installations. 
  8. Eliminate mandatory minimum parking requirements, except for accessible spaces, and create maximum parking standards instead.
  9. Introduce a new “Vancouver Special” design for standard lot sizes with six floors, zero emissions and no vehicle parking. Offer pre-approved building permits and strata agreements to lower costs and limit timelines.
  10. Encourage building construction methods that reduce material waste.
  11. Explore frameworks with BC Hydro to produce and store renewable energy within city limits to meet future needs for power, including rooftop solar and turbines in storm sewers.

Electrify fleet vehicles

Around 40 per cent of climate pollution in Vancouver comes from burning gas in cars and trucks. While our transportation platform focuses on promoting cycling, walking and transit, we also need cleaner vehicles, starting with the ones that spend all day on our streets. Fleet managers can see the greatest savings on fuel, maintenance and replacement costs from electric vehicles.

OneCity will accelerate the electrification of Vancouver’s vehicle fleet and ask companies to develop plans to do the same. We will also encourage the use of electric bicycles and mini-trucks to replace fleet vehicles.

  1. Require all new vehicles purchased by the City of Vancouver and its agencies to be electric, including police cars, garbage trucks, and fire engines as these models become available. 
  2. Determine where City of Vancouver vehicles could be replaced with smaller alternatives, electric bikes or transit trips.
  3. Develop plans with city fleet managers to reach full electrification of Vancouver’s fleet by 2030.
  4. Work with private fleet managers in the city to support their own plans atfor full electrification.
  5. Require private fleet managers of gas vehicles to purchase citywide parking permits for their vehicles
  6. Ban gas leaf blowers, lawn mowers and weed whackers.

Promote food security

Climate disasters mean we cannot always count on the complex supply chains that fill grocery store shelves. From fertilizers to farming to shipping and spoilage, our industrial food system also produces about a third of global climate pollution. And too many Vancouverites already struggle to find healthy, affordable groceries.

OneCity will encourage local food production and curb waste in ways that eliminate pollution and make it easier for everyone to put dinner on the table.

  1. Strengthen Indigenous food sovereignty including through demonstration Indigenous food forests promoting local foods and medicines through signage, tours, workshops, harvesting, and processing. 
  2. Provide space for year-round farmers markets.
  3. Work alongside Neighbourhood Houses, the Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Networks, and other community food organizations to strengthen equity and sustainability in our local food security systems, with a priority to ensure seniors and low-income households have local access to healthy foods.
  4. Include vegetarian and vegan options for all city-owned food and beverage vendors.
  5. Offer cooking and preserving classes at community kitchens shared.
  6. Restore compost collection in parks with updated health and safety protocols. 

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OneCity is fighting for the services that Vancouver families need: affordable housing, climate action, and public safety.