Canadians living in low-income households will need $42 billion in government and public utility spending over the next 25 years to help retrofit their homes and escape “energy poverty,” a new report has found.
The authors then refined those numbers using household economic data gathered as part of Canada’s national census. In the end, they found half of the 20 per cent of Canadians grappling with energy poverty in 2019 also fell into the low-income bracket. A social enterprise that has spent 15 years targeting energy poverty across North America, Kambo helps low-income and marginalized people access green building retrofits funded by government, utilities and other organizations.
After oil and gas, the buildings sector is Canada's next largest source of emissions growth since 2005, a trend the Canadian Climate Institute warned last year is "undercutting" the country's progress in reaching its climate targets. And in many Canadian cities, inefficient buildings and gas-burning heating systems often account for more than half of all carbon pollution.
At a household level, the average Canadian detached home would see annual savings of $1,850; an attached home $1,285; and an apartment $805, the report found. Despite the benefits, the $42 billion over 25 years would only help the most needy. Another 12.6 million more Canadian households were identified in the report as facing some level of cost burden when it came to paying their energy bills, but were not assessed to be the highest priority for government spending.
The Pembina report comes less than two months after health officials in British Columbia found Vancouver’s housing stock is contributing to a big gap in who faces the deadliest risks during extreme heat events. A scientific investigation into the 2021 extreme heat found it was made 150 times more likely due to climate change. By 2040, the rapid attribution study anticipated the region could experience similar heat waves every five to 10 years. All the more reason to prepare now, according to the Pembina report.
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