CleanBC review urges faster grid build-out, building-code tweaks

Key Takeaways:

• B.C. will need a much bigger and faster clean power build-out to support electrification, or electricity supply and connection delays could start to constrain new housing and industrial projects.
• The panel recommends easing and recalibrating parts of the Energy Step Code and Zero Carbon Step Code timelines, while tightening equipment rules so new heating/cooling systems effectively shift toward high-efficiency electric options like heat pumps.
• CleanBC is driving a growing pipeline of retrofit and low-carbon work, but labour shortages and competing demands from sectors like LNG and critical minerals are emerging as major risks for project delivery and costs.

The Whole Story:

An independent panel is urging the B.C. government to ramp up clean power supply, adjust building codes and streamline utility connections, warning that current policies will deliver only about half of the province’s 2030 emissions-reduction target and could constrain new housing and industrial projects if left unchanged.

The CleanBC Independent Review Panel’s final report, Rising to the Moment, concludes that the province’s flagship climate plan is “for the most part, working,” with measurable reductions in pollution from buildings, fuels and industry. But it says rapid population and economic growth, deferred policies and global shocks have left B.C. falling well short of its 2030 goal, even as climate-related disasters drive up public costs.

For the construction and development sector, the report sketches a future shaped by aggressive electrification, new requirements for heating and cooling systems, and a more flexible approach to performance-based building codes.

Big build-out for clean electricity

BC Hydro now estimates electricity demand will rise by about 15% by 2030 compared with 2021. The utility plans to meet that with Site C’s 1,230 megawatts of capacity, a 2024 call for new wind and solar projects, and efficiency measures expected to save roughly 2,000 gigawatt hours a year — together adding close to 19% new supply to the grid.

Even so, research cited in the report suggests B.C.’s power use is likely to double by 2050 as buildings, vehicles and industry electrify. The panel says government and regulators must let BC Hydro “build more proactively” so power availability does not become a brake on economic development.

One key recommendation is an electricity allocation framework that prioritizes power for fuel-switching in existing buildings and industries, and steers new industrial demand toward sectors that deliver high economic benefits and are aligned with net-zero targets. The panel also calls on the province, BC Hydro, FortisBC, local governments and developers to work together to reduce the cost and time required to obtain electrical service connections — an issue that has increasingly surfaced on large housing and mixed-use projects.

Step Code relief and new equipment rules

On the buildings side, the review backs B.C.’s performance-based Energy Step Code and Zero Carbon Step Code, but says some targets are “overly ambitious” and risk driving up costs in colder regions and higher-cost markets.

The panel recommends removing the net-zero energy-ready step from the Energy Step Code because of its high incremental cost relative to benefits. It suggests pushing timelines so that the Step Code level delivering about 20% better efficiency than today’s base code would not become mandatory in the provincial code until 2030.

For emissions, it proposes adjusting Zero Carbon Step Code timelines so “Strong Performance” takes effect in 2027 or 2030 depending on climate zone, with full zero-carbon performance delayed to 2030 in milder regions. Local governments would still be allowed to move faster, but the report urges more regional coordination so neighbouring municipalities do not adopt divergent requirements for the same builders.

At the equipment level, the panel proposes a Highest Efficiency Equipment Standard that would require all new space and water heating systems sold and installed in B.C. to be at least 100% efficient — effectively favouring heat pumps and other electric systems — by the early 2030s, with flexibility for northern climate zones and hard-to-electrify segments.

It also recommends amending the building code so that any permanently installed new air-conditioning in low-rise residential buildings must be reversible, providing both low-carbon heating and cooling. That change would further push new homes and retrofits toward heat pumps.

To help pay for upgrades, the panel wants the province to continue its Better Homes and Better Buildings incentives and explore commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing, funded in part by a modest increase to the Clean Energy Levy on gas bills.

Industry, fuels and workforce

For industrial emitters — including major construction-materials producers — the review supports extending B.C.’s output-based pricing system through at least 2040, recycling 100% of the revenue into emissions-reduction projects, and tightening methane rules for oil and gas.

It cautions that continued expansion of liquefied natural gas could crowd out other sectors such as critical minerals by competing for limited clean power, skilled labour and provincial fiscal support.

On the fuels side, the panel backs increased production of made-in-B.C. biofuels and renewable natural gas, both to support the Low Carbon Fuel Standard and to serve hybrid heating systems in buildings.

Labour supply is flagged as a growing risk. Stakeholders told the panel that CleanBC is driving demand for construction and retrofit work faster than the workforce is expanding. The report calls for a coordinated plan to train domestic workers and support youth employment programs tied to climate-related projects.

Call to renew, not retreat

The panel notes that climate-fuelled disasters — including the 2021 heat dome, floods and wildfires — have already inflicted economic losses equivalent to several percentage points of B.C.’s GDP, even as affordability concerns dominate public debate. It argues that scaling back climate policy would increase long-term costs and urges government to renew CleanBC around principles such as protecting affordability, ensuring competitiveness and setting “ambitious but achievable” targets.

“Just because it gets more challenging doesn’t mean it’s any less important. And in fact, if anything, it’s more important than ever,” the report says, quoting Premier David Eby.

For builders and developers, the message is that B.C.’s climate plan is not going away — but the rules may be recalibrated to focus more squarely on electrification, code pathways that are achievable in different regions, and investments that keep projects moving while the province chases its climate targets.