Cities around the world are embracing Building Emissions Performance Standards (BEPS) to limit carbon emissions from large buildings, creating healthier environments for the people who live and work in them. To be effective, it’s important that Toronto’s emerging BEPS policy is well-designed and informed by representative stakeholders and rightsholders. In addition to the many decarbonization and environmental benefits that more energy efficient buildings provide, there are also a number of equity impacts. How does the policy affect housing affordability? How will compliance fees be used? What type of job creation will this involve? We spoke to some of Toronto’s leading housing and environmental advocates to dive into the important policy impacts to consider.
Rosemarie Powell, Toronto Community Benefits Network:
“By linking climate action with social justice efforts, BEPS can help reduce inequalities and ensure that the benefits of environmental sustainability are broadly shared. We see BEPS as a policy that will help the City of Toronto meet its Transform TO Net Zero Strategy climate goals, while at the same time creating an inclusive green jobs strategy informed by all stakeholders including workers, unions and community organizations. This could have a hugely beneficial impact on ensuring good local jobs, equity hiring, and social procurement. Through retrofitting existing residential buildings, BEPS can also improve housing for tenants by improving their comfort and health, while at the same time expanding the lifespan of buildings.”
Sarah Buchanan, Toronto Environmental Alliance:
“Let’s be clear: the market is not going to solve climate change. In a system that is largely profit driven, policy is incredibly important in making sure that people have stable and affordable homes to live in. A good, well-shaped BEPS policy can tell building owners and operators what to plan for and when to better protect tenants from climate impacts. As summers get increasingly hotter, retrofit projects like heat pumps can help to not only lower emissions but also provide necessary cooling for tenants.”
Representative, ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) Canada:
“ACORN has spent decades working with the City to improve building conditions for tenants, like through the RentSafe program. We see the design of Toronto’s BEPS policy as incredibly important, and it needs to include protections to prevent tenants from bearing the cost of upcoming changes. We cannot allow costs to pass down to tenants and result in above guideline rental increases. A well-designed, properly implemented policy with those protections will provide huge benefits for residents like improved insulation, more efficient heating and cooling, and better air quality.”
Theresa McClenaghan, Canadian Environmental Law Association:
“With good policy work comes equity analysis, jurisdictional scans, and stakeholder consultation to achieve aspects of housing equity. Retrofits reduce demand on other housing funds, while at the same time providing inter-generational benefits as buildings transition through families. An important part of Toronto’s BEPS policy will be examining where compliance fees go. By applying funds to support retrofit projects in low income and vulnerable communities (some of the most climate-impacted groups), this would benefit tenants’ living conditions and landlords who may struggle financially to comply with the law.”
A key takeaway from our conversations was that costs related to BEPS retrofits are not passed down to tenants. Safeguarding affordability will be instrumental to ensure there aren’t negative equity impacts. There are many opportunities for positive co-benefits in addition to decarbonization, such as green jobs, improved living conditions, and energy savings.
One example of a strong equity focused BEPS is in Boston, where compliance fees are collected in an Equitable Emissions Investment Fund to support equity-deserving communities. The policy includes tenant protections such as a citizen review board and recourse for tenants if the building owner has not complied with the requirements or has not prioritized distributing benefits to environmental justice outcomes.
With a strong policy in place, including financial assistance to building owners, protections for tenants, and clear timelines, BEPS will help to lower emissions from Toronto’s housing stock while enhancing living conditions for residents.
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