IN-PERSON Barcelona. Section B

Abstract

Cities are increasingly developing their own building performance standards (BPS) to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from buildings. To have a meaningful impact, these policies must overcome systemic barriers to decarbonization. Thus, assessing the extent to which BPS can break past cycles of fossil fuel dependence and deliver a low-carbon future is critical to inform urban policymaking efforts. This study is based on discourse analysis of 140 academic articles, industry reports, and policy documents covering six cases of urban BPS in Canada, Japan, and the US. Results show that interurban competition motivates municipal authorities to leverage their responsibility for environmental and citizen protection to adopt local BPS and advocate for their adoption by higher levels of government. However, many challenges remain. The authority of most cities does not extend to the regulation of energy sources, consumption, or distribution. Further, laws protecting personal data add complexity to the collection of benchmarking data. This situation results in many BPS proposing approaches that address emissions only, target a small number of buildings, favour flexibility over stringency, and delay mandating emission reductions. Beyond policy adoption, barriers to BPS implementation are often more daunting. BPS will only deliver emission reductions if energy providers are strong allies, specialized labour can deliver needed retrofits, municipal capacity is available to ensure enforcement, and political will, backed by citizen support, ensures long-term policy entrenchment.