Canadian Energy Efficiency Scorecard:
Provinces and Territories
British Columbia
British Columbia leads in Scorecard rankings for the fourth year in a row, having earned 55 points out of 100. The province continues to be a place to watch for best practices in policy.
Aligning energy efficiency with climate goals
British Columbia leads in Scorecard rankings for the fourth year in a row, having earned 55 points out of 100. The province continues to be a place to watch for best practices in policy.
Planned initiatives under the CleanBC Roadmap to 2030 include making all new buildings zero carbon and requiring space and water heating to be 100 per cent efficient by 2030. Others include requiring energy efficiency labels during home sales, and capping GHG emissions from natural gas utilities.
The province is funding significant GHG reductions in industry and re-aligning natural gas conservation strategies. However, utility provider targets for energy savings are not fully aligned with the province’s climate ambitions. Policymakers need to find a new framework to let utilities—subject to regulatory environments that are notoriously risk-averse—be part of exploring ways to achieve robust energy savings.
The province’s need for energy efficiency goes beyond reducing GHGs and energy bills. Extreme heat events have caused deaths in BC. As such, there’s a need to outfit homes with efficiency upgrades such as better insulation and heat pumps—which also provide air conditioning—so residents can adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Strengths
Strong BC climate plan
BC’s updated climate plan includes several nation-leading policies. Now the province needs to implement them.
Municipal empowerment
BC allows local governments to adopt building code tiers higher than the provincial base code. And, the province gives consistent support for municipal energy efficiency initiatives.
Opportunities for improvement
Mission-oriented energy efficiency
The mission-oriented framework that informs BC’s economic plan can be directed towards achieving aggressive energy savings that align with net-zero emissions. This would help escape the limitations of static benefit-cost frameworks used in utility planning and, in turn, enable the province to explore large-scale building retrofit strategies and other energy saving innovations.
Delivering on the ‘right to be cool’
During heat waves, cool indoor temperatures are a necessity for human health. To avoid creating a class of underperforming and unsafe buildings, the province can implement mandatory building performance standards for existing large buildings, and establish tenant rights to ensure affordability, security and maximum temperature thresholds.
Policy Area Scores
British Columbia
National median
Points possible
Programs
15 points
11.25 points
40 points
Enabling Policies
13 points
9 points
16 points
Buildings
10 points
4 points
19.5 points
Transportation
13 points
6 points
17.25 points
Industry
5 points
4 points
7 points
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