City’s green goal irritating but necessary
Putting the brakes on green policy-making because an aspirational target might be missed would be harebrained and selfdestructive.
But doing just that would be one possible response to last week’s Simon Fraser University prediction that Vancouver will not reach its lofty target to be powered entirely by renewable energy by 2050, at least not without tough and controversial policies, and more support from senior governments.
Give up now, rather than waste time and money trying to reach unrealistic goals. That’s how that response goes.
The other, more productive reaction is to stay the course despite the risk of falling short. Incremental green policies — if done right — could produce a more livable city with little real pain to residents.
When asked in an interview whether Vancouver will hit its 2050 target, Matt Horne, the city’s climate policy manager, took a long pause before he replied.
“Whether we get there or not? I don’t know,” he said. “There are some big question marks out there. At this point, personally and from a city perspective, there is enough belief that it is achievable that we’re committed to trying to get there.” Call that a solid maybe. What’s more certain is that as long as the city keeps trying to hit that target, they’re going to keep irritating people.
The most upset among them will be the ones with the most to lose. Among them are those in the fossil fuel industry. A glimmer of that was seen last year when FortisBC kicked up fears the city was banning natural gas, after staff stiffened building requirements to reduce energy use. It wasn’t.
But also upset will be everyday people who feel pushed to go electric the next time their gas furnace breaks down. Or to buy an electric vehicle when their diesel truck dies.
Or to purchase renewable natural gas for their stove, especially when doing so is more costly.
In the future, the challenge for Horne and other staff is to find incremental, but meaningful, policy changes that don’t significantly limit choice or raise costs.
Out the window — green targets be damned — are things like parking restrictions for gas or diesel cars and diesel trucks, ideas the SFU report looked at. Things like that are political non-starters. Even Horne has cast aside that kind of move. Instead, he said, staff are working on near-term proposals that he figures will be more palatable.
Among them is a retrofit and renovation strategy using incentives and requirements to get better energy efficiency and higher renewable energy use in existing buildings.
It may include requirements for equipment upgrades. Horne gave the example of a broken gas furnace being replaced by a heat pump.
Closer to summer, the city plans to release a renewable city proposal with a three- or four-year work plan. None of the moves in that plan are likely to achieve the 2050 target — neither singularly nor collectively. But that’s hardly reason not to suggest them for close public scrutiny.
The only real alternative to pursuing green targets is to settle for life on the cheap with its attendant environmental costs. But that’s a lifestyle that’s already catching up to humans and it doesn’t wear well.
Meanwhile, action has benefits. Anything useful that this city learns along the way will be picked up by other cities, just as Vancouver borrows from green policies elsewhere.
And while thinking globally, isn’t it simply the case that all cities in all countries need to find smarter ways to live and to chip in on climate goals? So why not Vancouver?