Urban climate leadership holds dialogue on heat pumps

Urban Climate Leadership (UCL) held its first multi-stakeholder dialogue, Solving Heat Pumps in Low-Rise Multi-Unit Residential Properties (MURBs) on May 14, 2024. 

Our buildings are aging, landlords are under post-COVID pressure, governments are investing to protect social housing, new financial incentives are being introduced to accelerate decarbonization and projections of new highs in temperature are raising serious health concerns for those without access to in-suite cooling.

If there was ever a time to bring all of the players together, to act as a cohesive cluster and build on each other’s work and insights, it is now. Multiple initiatives have attempted to address this deeply complex issue. This rich history of convening, experimentation, policy ideation and pilot projects has built a level of social capital and trust among key stakeholders that is crucial to collaboratively solving for heat pumps in low rise MURBs.

As this process evolves, we are focusing on the transition to heat pumps in low-rise multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs) – i.e. three and four story buildings in British Columbia. Beyond this table-setting constraint, there is a great deal of context needed to adequately frame the issue, help align stakeholders and move collaboratively towards defining solutions. 

Urban Climate Leadership (UCL) is pleased to share with you the following summary report, synthesizing themes from this first dialogue.

You can access the report here.