By Tegan Hill and Elmira Aliakbari

British Columbians face a housing crisissa国际传媒攖hatsa国际传媒檚 not breaking news. But now, new federal regulations aimed at sa国际传媒渄ecarbonizingsa国际传媒� the building sector will push housing prices in the province even higher with very little environmental benefit.

Specifically, according to Ottawa, new residential homes must now sa国际传媒渦se 61 per cent less energy by 2025 and 65 per cent less energy by 2030 in comparison to 2019.sa国际传媒� And new commercial buildings must sa国际传媒渦se 47 per cent less energy by 2025 and 59 per cent less energy by 2030 in comparison to 2019.sa国际传媒�

Consequently, according to a recent study, these new regulations will add more than $78,000 to the cost of a newly constructed home in B.C. by 2030.

Thatsa国际传媒檚 a big problem.

Moreover, recent strong population growth has already compounded B.C.sa国际传媒檚 housing challenges. In 2022, the provincial population grew by 147,540 people while just 38,361 new homes were built. Put simply, new construction is not keeping up with B.C.sa国际传媒檚 growing population.

And when supply cansa国际传媒檛 keep up with demand, prices increase. In other words, British Columbians already face an affordability crisis, and higher building costs due to Ottawasa国际传媒檚 new regulations, part of a broader plan to reduce emissions, will only push up prices further.

And because older and higher-income British Columbians are often already homeownerssa国际传媒攁nd these regulations will only directly affect the price of new homessa国际传媒攃osts will fall disproportionately on younger people and families looking to enter the housing market.

Finally, the study also predicts the new federal regulations will lead to a 2.4 per cent contraction in B.C.sa国际传媒檚 economy as of 2030. So not only will Ottawasa国际传媒檚 plan drive up housing prices, it will hinder provincial prosperity more broadly.

Of course, the Trudeau government claims these regulations are necessary to protect the environment. But energy efficiency mandates, in practise, often fall short of achieving meaningful reductions in emissions. While they make it cheaper to heat or light your home due to greater energy efficiency, for instance, they can also inadvertently lead to increased energy usage, a phenomenon known as the sa国际传媒渞ebound effect.sa国际传媒� Basically, homeowners use the savings from greater energy efficiency to purchase other goods and services, which can then increase emissions.

Over time, this phenomenon can effectively cancel out most of the initial energy savings achieved through stricter efficiency rules. In fact, the same study estimates that these new federal regulations will reduce emissions in B.C. by a paltry 1 per cent by 2030. Thatsa国际传媒檚 a lot of pain for little gain.

The Trudeau governmentsa国际传媒檚 new regulations will impose huge costs on British Columbians at a time when the provincial economy is struggling and housing is already unaffordable. Federal policymakers should rethink these policy changes, particularly as theysa国际传媒檒l have very little environmental benefit.

Tegan Hill and Elmira Aliakbari are analysts at the Fraser Institute.