Whereas the Province of BC has communicated support for a 2017 UBCM motion requesting that the Province develop an energy benchmarking program requiring that buildings above a size threshold benchmark their energy performance and report this information to the province annually and that the resulting data be available to local governments to inform their climate policy and programs, but not yet acted on that motionleaving room for additional direction; And whereas the urgency to implement measures to help reduce Greenhouse Gas GHG emissions in the building sector has grown since the October 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC report verified that drastic reductions in GHG emissions are needed by 2030 in order to avert catastrophic climate change impacts, and increasing numbers of local governments in BC numbering 31 as of January 31, 2020 declare a global climate emergency and develop bolder plans to mitigate accelerating climate change: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM request that the Province act on the 2017 UBCM motion for a building energy benchmark program within a year and that the program include appropriate industry support tools to facilitate easy compliance, a benchmark data management system accessible by local governments to help inform their industry engagement and policy development, and plans and timelines for expanding the program to include other building types.
Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation Through CleanBC, the Province has introduced a wide range of incentives and supports to help businesses and households reduce climate pollution and save energy. This includes the Provinces CleanBC Better Buildings program, which provides clean fuel-switching incentives for residential and commercial buildings, and support for building energy benchmarking tools such as Energy Star Portfolio Manager. The Province recognizes the importance of benchmarking tools to foster improved energy management and to better understand the energy performance of the overall building stock. The Province continues to explore energy rating policies for homes and buildings that will support these objectives.