We, mayors and mayoress of municipalities in Quebec, have a clear message to send to the Government of Quebec and to all players in the building industry, public or private: to achieve our climate objectives, we must quickly abandon fossil fuels within the framework built in Quebec. In North America, many municipalities regulate to remove fossil fuels, including natural gas, from buildings. We intend to join the movement in order to accelerate the energy transition.
Quebec municipalities intend to actively contribute to the necessary energy transition, whether through the development of new sources of clean energy or through their participation in the decarbonization of activities that emit greenhouse gases. Residential, commercial and institutional buildings — the third highest-emitting sectors in Quebec — are a priority decarbonization project requiring strong political will from all levels of government.
To this end, we would like to highlight the initiative of the City of Montreal, which announced that it will require that all new buildings be “zero emissions” by 2025. This important step, both political and regulatory, opens pave the way for other initiatives in this direction. Because each new building connected to natural gas, each renewal of a heating device powered by fossil fuels, accentuates our carbon lock-in, that is to say, it makes us dependent on energy systems that are incompatible with the imperatives of reducing greenhouse gas.
Several municipalities in Quebec can attest to the pressures exerted on the real estate market. Large-scale developments, from which we expect the achievement of ambitious requirements in terms of sustainable development, are threatened by a connection to fossil fuels. As elected officials, we face similar challenges when it comes to decarbonizing our municipal buildings or providing new infrastructure to our fellow citizens. Small, medium or large, municipalities evolve in different realities, but it is imperative to unite around targets commensurate with a real ecological transition.
While Quebec is experiencing a housing crisis and the housing supply will have to increase rapidly over the next few years, it is important to send a clear signal to builders. For the moment, the pace of energy renovations as well as the environmental performance of the existing built environment or under construction
We need to act now and provide an effective framework to decarbonize the building sector in the most coordinated way. For this sector as elsewhere, there will be no miracle solutions. The role of public decision-makers will be crucial in order to demand practices aligned with our climate ambitions while creating favorable conditions facilitating the adaptation of stakeholders. These conditions require training and greater support for players in the field, financial support for the less privileged in particular, as well as better access to information concerning the energy performance of buildings. The availability of reliable data is essential for the decarbonization of the built environment, but also with regard to energy sobriety objectives by respecting certain performance thresholds.
The Union of Quebec Municipalities already considers the building sector as “an important part of energy consumption” and supports municipalities in its energy conversion to less polluting sources. The Quebec Federation of Municipalities has also played an active role in important achievements concerning the fight against climate change and the phasing out of fossil fuels. Today, the decarbonization of buildings is an essential part of the energy transition in Quebec, and this transition will not happen without clear guidelines for the abandonment of natural gas.
Municipalities can take action to change Québec’s regulatory framework. A report on the subject was also recently launched. We must both be exemplary and play a leading role in the decarbonization of residential, commercial and institutional buildings.
Beyond municipal initiatives, we call on the Quebec government to take responsibility for the climate emergency. Just as for the abandonment of fuel oil in the built environment, it has the power to regulate the exit of natural gas from buildings, and this, on the scale of Quebec. We are also asking the government to be proactive and to publicly and financially support municipalities committed to the climate that will take steps to quickly reduce and eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from buildings.