Toronto pushes for higher green building standards as emission reductions fall short of 2025 targets

0
54

Michael Lewis

With the current pace of greenhouse gas reductions unlikely to meet Toronto’s net zero targets, the city is planning a push to make the business case for building to a higher green standard.

Toronto’s 2025 carbon budget proposes more resources for developer and community outreach to underline savings from upfront investments in full decarbonization, the city’s environment and climate executive director James Nowlan told councillors at a budget committee meeting last week.

“We have teams working on additional resources that could be distributed through councillors’ offices or with developers directly as they go through their approval process,” Nowlan said.

He noted that council in December directed his office to provide more materials to developers that detail technologies and processes to help them build more sustainably.

According to city data, more than 2,500 developments were required to meet the first tier of the Toronto Green Standard as of the end of 2021 but only 21 availed themselves of the development charges refund offered to projects that go beyond the minimum.

Toronto introduced the standard in 2006 with tier 1 performance mandatory and tier 2 and beyond voluntary but with financial incentives.

The city is to introduce a tier 5 this year with more focus on tackling embedded carbon in building materials as opposed to the greater energy efficiency in operations required in the first tier.

Toronto in 2023 became the first jurisdiction in North America to enact embodied carbon caps on new city-owned buildings. The cap is a tier 2 optional requirement, but council has already asked staff for more information on the feasibility of applying mandatory embodied carbon caps broadly.

Nowlan noted that the city has a schedule to impose more stringent building standard requirements but even with only tier 1 mandatory, “we’re seeing about half of the developers actually going further.”

He said examples of higher green standard building at major residential projects such as in the Portlands and on Downsview lands can demonstrate the financial benefits of reduced emissions, noting that energy companies are providing a marketplace to support lower carbon initiatives.

And while he said efforts to persuade builders to voluntarily reduce embedded carbon can be an uphill battle, suppliers say they are responding with products including concrete and drywall that promise lower carbon footprints.

Toronto’s 2025 budget contains 31 new or enhanced greenhouse gas reduction measures that are greater than those set out in the 2024 budget, with most of the additional reductions in the corporate buildings and transportation sectors.

The new projects are among 190 emissions reduction actions identified by city divisions, with every division now taking part in the carbon budgeting process.

The budget also initiates an annual carbon budget prioritization that aims to identify new or enhanced greenhouse gas reduction actions, with the climate measures requiring a capital investment of $1.95 billion and a 2025 operating expense budget of $78.47 million.

While not directly reflected in the 2025 budget, the city says its support of Toronto Hydro is critical for achieving net zero since the utility must make unprecedented infrastructure investments to ready the distribution grid for increasing electrification in the building sector.

The city says it will support these investments through a one-time special equity injection of $50 million, annual investments of $25 million from 2025-2034, and a phased down fixed dividend payment schedule.

The carbon budget, part of the staff prepared, mayor endorsed 10-year capital and operating plan that is to be put to council for a vote, with any amendments, on Feb. 11, is also investing in moving buildings away from natural gas – responsible for more than half of Toronto’s carbon emissions — and towards cleaner technologies like heat pumps.

And the city is increasing spending to add gardens, trees and green spaces along city-owned roads and medians to help capture rainwater, prevent flooding and provide more shade.

Toronto staff in a report, meanwhile, says the current pace of emissions reductions is unlikely to meet the city’s 2025 emissions target of a 45 per cent GHG reduction from 1990 levels.

In 2024, Toronto’s community-wide greenhouse gas emissions increased by 5 per cent compared to 2021. The city’s goal is to achieve net-zero GHG emissions by 2040.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

I accept the Privacy Policy

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.