Item - 2024.IE15.4

The Infrastructure and Environment Committee:

1. Requested the Executive Director, Environment and Climate to report back on the existing voluntary emissions performance reporting requirements including compliance and opportunities for streamlining with provincial data collection and consistency with provincial reporting requirements.

2. Requested the Executive Director, Environment and Climate, for the small-scale, existing residential buildings aspect of the planned consultations, to focus on opportunities to support emission reduction through expanded funding and incentive programs.
 

3. Requested the Executive Director, Environment and Climate, General Manager, Toronto Water and Chief Financial Officer to coordinate internally to align consultation for building emission performance standards for commercial and industrial buildings, the commercial parking levy and stormwater charge as a suite of related climate action tools.
 

4. Requested the Executive Director, Environment and Climate in partnership with utilities, to report back on programs for homeowners and multi-residential buildings to adopt emissions reduction technologies, including:

a. Further promoting existing programs;

b. Further expanding the Home Energy Loan Program (HELP) and high-Rise Retrofit Improvement Support Program (Hi-RIS) in collaboration with provincial and federal partners; and

c. Streamlining programs for solar panels and heat pumps, through bulk procurement.

The City is proposing to establish Building Emissions Performance Standards that would set greenhouse gas emissions performance targets for existing buildings in Toronto and that would enhance and / or create supporting policies, programs and resources and facilitate access to incentives to enable building owners, tenants and occupants to address upfront cost and affordability challenges.

Given the unique local context for the different building sectors / typologies and the distinct starting points in their building decarbonization process, the development of Building Emissions Performance Standards will explore the most suitable approach (i.e., mandatory vs. voluntary) for each typology to enable greenhouse gas emissions reductions and access to additional benefits across Toronto's building sector. The City's work on Building Emissions Performance Standards will provide Torontonians with reasonable and achievable pathways to decarbonize their buildings, enabling them to make improvements over time, and to realize co-benefits related to health, comfort and the local economy.

The purpose of this report is to provide City Council with an overview of the Design Principles that will guide the development and implementation of Building Emissions Performance Standards to achieve goals related to climate action, as well as an update on the Building Emissions Performance Standards By-law development process for the mandatory standards that may be established.

The need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Toronto's building stock and mitigate climate change has never been greater. Toronto is experiencing weather that is hotter, wetter, and more extreme and these conditions are expected to worsen. At the same time, Toronto is in the midst of a housing crisis resulting in a lack of affordable and adequate housing options, rising rental costs, inflation and an increased cost of living.¹ The development plan for Building Emissions Performance Standards will consider and respond to the social and economic conditions that building owners and occupants are currently facing.

The building sector is the primary source of greenhouse gas emissions in Toronto, contributing 56 percent of the city-wide total. The City Council-endorsed Net Zero Existing Buildings Strategy (the Strategy) (2021.IE26.16) sets out a number of critical actions for the City to consider in order to reduce building sector emissions. The Strategy identifies Building Emissions Performance Standards as the most effective means of enabling city-wide emissions reductions.

To develop the overall design principles of Building Emissions Performance Standards City staff relied on the foundational work that went into the Strategy, the initial results from the engagement and technical work conducted and the best practices and lessons learned from other jurisdictions with existing Building Emissions Performance Standards regulations. Based on the outcomes of this work, staff recommend the following Building Emissions Performance Standards design principles:

1. Cross-cutting equity and affordability considerations

2. Broad and inclusive engagement and consultation

3. Attainable Standards

4. Supportive programs and policies

5. Data driven

In addition to the recommended Building Emissions Performance Standards design principles, this report provides an update on the development process of the associated By-law for the mandatory standards that may be proposed, the engagement and consultation strategy, and an overview of the planned technical analyses that will inform the development of Building Emissions Performance Standards.

¹ City of Toronto Housing Data Book, March 2023