{"id":58253,"date":"2021-06-13T07:52:01","date_gmt":"2021-06-13T12:52:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=58253"},"modified":"2021-06-13T07:52:01","modified_gmt":"2021-06-13T12:52:01","slug":"vancouver-council-votes-against-delay-for-climate-emergency-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=58253","title":{"rendered":"Vancouver Council Votes Against Delay for Climate Emergency Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Vancouver Council Votes Against Delay for Climate Emergency Plan<\/a><\/h3>\n

City bylaw will require new homes built after Jan. 1 to use zero-emissions heat and hot water systems, effectively banning natural gas hookups.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n

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\u2018What\u2019s clear to me after years of doing climate work is that climate delay is the same as climate denial,\u2019 said Coun. Christine Boyle of the vote.\u00a0Photo by\u00a0Ervins Strauhmanis<\/a>, Creative Commons license\u00a0CC BY 2.0<\/a>.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n
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New homes in Vancouver will be built with zero-emissions heating and hot water systems starting Jan. 1 following a city council vote this week.<\/p>\n

Council was considering delaying the zero-emissions requirement by one year to give the heating and plumbing industry additional time to adapt to the new bylaw, which was introduced in 2019.<\/p>\n

Council voted 6\u20134 to stick to the original timeline outlined in Vancouver\u2019s\u00a0Climate Emergency Action Plan<\/a>. OneCity\u2019s Christine Boyle, independent Mayor Kennedy Stewart, COPE Coun. Jean Swanson and Green councillors Adriane Carr, Pete Fry and Michael Wiebe voted to keep the original timeline.<\/p>\n

Independents Rebecca Bligh, Lisa Dominato, Colleen Hardwick and Sarah Kirby-Yung voted for a one-year deferral. NPA Coun. Melissa De Genova abstained.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really pleased and relieved about it,\u201d says Boyle. \u201cWhat\u2019s clear to me after years of doing climate work is that climate delay is the same as climate denial. We\u2019ve been losing slowly for too long, and we don\u2019t have enough time to continue to take that approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boyle was an outspoken opponent of the one-year delay. Earlier in the week she\u00a0told The Tyee<\/a>\u00a0a delay would punish businesses that had invested in Vancouver\u2019s low-carbon transition and signal to the fossil fuel industry that the city was willing to cave on its climate goals \u201cwith a tiny bit of pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

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