Sustainability with livegreen

Sustainability is key

At BC Housing, we recognize that our actions impact local communities and ecosystems across the province. Our sustainability plan, livegreen, provides a roadmap to help fight climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and our environmental footprint. We are nearly a decade into our livegreen journey and we continue to deliver on our core mandate which is guided by three pillars.

Planning

livegreen Sustainability Plan

The livegreen Sustainability Plan describes our sustainability performance targets related to the three pillars (above) and outlines related planned actions.

Climate Adaptation Framework

In 2017 we published our new Climate Adaptation Framework which aligns its’ goals and tactics with the livegreen Sustainability Plan. It recognizes that not only should we aim to reduce our negative contributions to carbon pollution and environmental footprint, we must also take action on the climate change impacts already affecting our work and communities across B.C. For example, increasing annual average temperatures and more frequent and intense heat waves present health risks to our tenants and building occupants (See more on our Extreme Heat page). The adaptation framework helps us prepare and respond to those changes in weather patterns and to unprecedented extreme weather events.

Sustainability and Resilience Strategy Framework

As of May 2021, BC Housing has a new framework to guide our sustainability and resilience work. The Sustainability and Resilience Strategy Framework will provide the structure for the development of a full Sustainability and Resilience Strategy.

The new framework is aligned with BC Housing’s four Service Plan goals, and:

• Outlines how our sustainability and resilience work supports BC Housing’s vision, mission, goals, and guiding principles;
• Offers Sustainability Objectives that align with each Service Plan goal, to advance sustainability and resilience in those areas; and
• Identifies Strategic Directions to achieve our sustainability objectives.

Learn more about the draft framework.

Reporting

The targets and measures outlined in our annual livegreen Sustainability Plan are reported in the Carbon Neutral Report and the livegreen Sustainability Report.

Climate Change Accountability Report

The Climate Change Accountability Report  (previously the Carbon Neutral Action Report) focuses on our actions related to reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from all buildings that BC Housing owns and leases, our vehicle fleet, and office paper. This includes hundreds of residential buildings across the province and over one million square meters of floor area. Since 2010 BC Housing has reduced its carbon footprint by 17 per cent through energy efficiency in new construction and energy retrofits, and management in existing buildings.

livegreen Sustainability Report

The Livegreen Sustainability Report provides details on our performance against our livegreen plan targets organized by the three pillars: Integrated Decisions, Building Excellence and Change Agent.

Employee Council

The livegreen Employee Council is BC Housing’s employee-driven “green team”. The Council’s purpose is to initiate activities that raise awareness about sustainability, and to help BC Housing employees make more sustainable decisions at work, home, and in their communities.

Each year, Council creates its own strategic plan to identify sustainability-related activities under four focus areas – home, workplace, food, and commuting/travel.

Examples of past activities and promotions include Meatless Mondays, Bike to Work Week, Commuter Challenge, Paper Challenge, waste reduction campaigns, and hosting information sessions on sustainable local food.

The work of the livegreen Employee Council has contributed greatly to BC Housing being named one of Canada’s Greenest Employers every year since 2015.