Vancouver staff present draft green building package; cost, incentives and legal constraints flagged

Vancouver City Council workshop — City staff presented draft policies for a green building program that would raise new-construction energy performance, add resilience measures and curb embodied carbon in building materials, and asked council for feedback before more detailed financial analysis and stakeholder outreach.

Chad Eichen, community development director, and Rebecca Small (project lead, remote) described a policy package that includes three compliance pathways (prescriptive checklist, modeling and a performance pathway with 12 months of post-occupancy reporting), requirements or incentives for “all-electric ready” construction with limited exemptions, enrollment in Energy Star Portfolio Manager, and measures to reduce embodied carbon and construction waste. Eichen and Small said the program is intended to help Vancouver reach its 2040 carbon neutrality goal.

Small prefaced the discussion by noting a legal constraint: "Initiative 2,066, approved by Washington voters in November 2024, prevents counties, cities, and towns from adopting policies that prohibit, penalize, or discourage natural gas heating in buildings," and staff will consult the city attorney’s office on…