Toronto council targets net zero strategy for existing buildings
In a recent meeting, Toronto’s city council approved a series of strategies and plans to bring the city to its goal of reducing community-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to net zero by 2050 or sooner.
The Net Zero Existing Buildings Strategy aims to decarbonize all existing residential, commercial and institutional buildings within the next 30 years, a Net Zero Carbon Plan aims to reduce emissions in city-owned buildings, while an update to the Toronto Green Standard targets net zero emissions in new developments by 2030.
“With temperature records shattered in Canada in recent weeks, it’s critical that we reduce community-wide emissions to net zero as soon as possible,” said Toronto Mayor John Tory. “While the challenges of transforming how we build, renovate and operate our homes and buildings are massive, so too will be the benefits in terms of our climate, our health, economy and resilience. We are committed to working with other orders of government to put in place the supports, standards, regulations and training required to enable this market transformation.”
Homes and buildings account for 55 percent of Toronto’s GHG emissions. Approximately 60 percent of those emissions come from residential buildings, including single-family homes; the remaining 40 percent is estimated to come from commercial and institutional buildings.
The Net Zero Existing Buildings Strategy recommends nine key policy actions that the city can implement to enable and accelerate the uptake of retrofits by building owners. Those actions include requiring annual emissions performance reporting and public disclosure from building owners, establishing emissions performance targets, requiring energy and emissions audits and tune-ups, expanding and enhancing retrofit financing, streamlining the permitting and approval processes for deep retrofits, and supporting workforce development and training.
The city will implement voluntary performance measures and targets initially and intends to begin the transition to mandatory requirements in 2025. It believes an extensive retrofit program can reduce emissions by more than 80 percent in existing buildings. Additional measures such as carbon offsets can help the city reach net zero by 2050.
Implementing the Net Zero Existing Buildings Strategy is expected to increase local building retrofit economic activity by 87 percent over the next 30 years, and nearly double annual investment in existing buildings. It is also expected to create an additional 7,000 direct, full-time jobs in local construction, energy services and supportive work over 30 years.
Meanwhile, council also adopted a plan to achieve net zero emissions at more than 2,500 city-owned facilities spanning approximately 9.5 million square meters. Implementing the Net Zero Carbon Plan will reduce GHG emissions from city-owned buildings by at least 80 percent by 2040.
The city also approved version 4 of its Toronto Green Standard (TGS), which is a critical component of the City’s efforts to achieve zero emissions buildings by 2030 and meet 2050 city-wide GHG reduction targets.
The updated version of the standard advances requirements for building energy and GHG reduction and electric vehicle parking, and introduces tracking of embodied emissions in building materials used in construction. It addresses resilience through enhanced green infrastructure to manage stormwater runoff, reduce urban heat island impacts and promote biodiversity, including extensive and higher performance green roofs, bioswales, rain gardens, native pollinator species plantings and a new requirement for green streets.
Version 4 will apply to new development applications beginning on May 1, 2022. Introduced in 2010, the TGS is updated approximately every four years. Since its inception, the TGS has resulted in 169,000 tonnes of avoided carbon dioxide emissions annually, equivalent to removing more than 42,000 vehicles off the road each year.
“We have 30 years to work together to transition our homes and buildings, and ensure a cleaner, greener, and more resilient future,” said Scarborough–Rouge Park councillor Jennifer McKelvie, who also chairs the city’s Infrastructure and Environment Committee. “Our bold strategy lays a foundation for a coordinated effort by all levels of government and the private sector that will create 18,100 jobs, reduce building emissions by 149 megatons of carbon and improve the health and resilience of our communities.”
For city-owned developments, Version 4 will require net zero emissions in 2022.
Featured image: Toronto skyline (File photo)