This week Vancouver City Council will vote on whether to follow through with reversing the city's ban on gas in new buildings for heat and hot water.
WTC wrote a letter to council reminding them of their Hot Pink Paper Campaign commitments on climate action, protecting tenants from heatwaves, and applying an equity lens to decisions.
We urge council to keep gas out of buildings. Learn how you can take action here.
November 22, 2024
Re: Allowing Gas Heating and Hot Water in New Construction
Dear Mayor and Council,
Through our Hot Pink Paper Campaign, each of you made a commitment to take "decisive action, in line with science, to address the climate emergency with an equity lens by fully implementing the Climate Emergency Action Plan so that Vancouver meets its emission reduction targets."
To follow through, you must vote no to Recommendation B on Report 1 on Tuesday.
In our recent 2-year accountability report, we applauded Councillors Dominato and Meiszner for putting climate science above partisanship by voting against reversing the gas ban. That was courageous, and we hope more of you will join them.
But that isn't the only Hot Pink Paper commitment related to this decision. You also committed to protecting tenants from heatwaves.
Heat Pumps, the alternative to gas, have the additional advantage of providing cooling. By maintaining the prohibition of gas, you'll ensure that more tenants across the city have better cooling during heatwaves––which are caused by pollutants like the ones Recommendation B would reintroduce. With heat pumps as the default in new builds, subsidies and grants can flow more efficiently toward retrofitting older buildings with this cooling technology.
Finally, you committed to applying an equity lens to your decisions. The impacts of climate change are not felt equally: marginalized communities suffer the most. For example, research shows that climate change increases the risk and severity of gender-based violence, sexual violence, stillbirths, and poor maternal health outcomes.
You cannot be for women, trans, and gender-diverse communities if you backtrack on climate action. You cannot be for people with disabilities––as you will proclaim on Tuesday morning––or seniors if you refuse to address the threat climate change poses to their health and safety. You cannot be for pregnant people and children if you allow pollutants that are harmful to people who are pregnant, fetuses, and infants to be reintroduced.
Let me be very clear: approving Recommendation B does not align with an equity lens.
In light of your commitments through the Hot Pink Paper Campaign to address the climate emergency, protect tenants from heatwaves, and apply an equity lens to your work, Women Transforming Cities is asking you to vote no on this report, especially Recommendation B.
The public needs to know if you will follow through on the commitments you made to underrepresented communities.
Sincerely,
Clara Prager
Civic Engagement Manager
Women Transforming Cities
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