Well over 200 organizations have now joined the Building to Electrification Coalition.
The organizations—including property owners, builders, lenders, and local governments—are supporting the 2026 BC Building Electrification Roadmap, a province-wide plan to accelerate the transition to high-efficiency electric buildings.
Buildings are responsible for 25% of greenhouse gas emissions in Metro Vancouver and 8% province wide. The Roadmap calls on actors such as utilities and governments to take coordinated action to electrify space and water heating across the region’s building stock within 20 years.
“B.C.’s building industry is steadily shifting to the electrification of new and existing buildings,” explains Mariko Michasiw, B2E Program Manager for Zero Emissions Innovation Centre, the organization behind the Coalition and Roadmap.
The 2026 Roadmap builds on momentum created over the past five years, according to Michasiw, when the 2021 Roadmap launched.
Despite progress, however, Michasiw says that significant challenges remain.
“While a record level of new construction is energy efficient and low-carbon, strong policy choices will make the difference between a homegrown economic success story or slower adoption,” she says. “The Building Electrification Roadmap lays out how provincial and local governments, BC Hydro, and industry can level up on better, less-polluting homes and workplaces.”
The Building Electrification Roadmap, which was created through the engagement of 200 stakeholders, contains seven main strategies: Advance zero-carbon new construction; Accelerate retrofits of existing buildings; Align energy utilities with electrification; Transform the market for heating equipment; Develop workforce capacity and supply chains; Support innovation and emerging solutions; and Coordinate governance and policy.
Overall, BC is “well on the path to widespread building electrification,” according to the Roadmap, which “provides a clear direction for the next five years to meet the goal of a largely electrified building sector within 20 years.”
On May 12, from 12pm to 1pm, Roadmap author Tom Berkhout will present a webinar on the topic, discussing what has changed, which challenges persist, and which actions will shape the next phase of building electrification in BC.
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