Vancouver pledged to be the world’s greenest city by 2020. Will it be?

By Stephanie Wood

Vancouver is a hub for green technology. From car shares to super-efficient windows to virtual-reality architecture, green businesses are ever-expanding. In 2011, the city set out to make itself the world’s greenest by 2020, and to reach zero emissions by 2050.

With less than two months to go until 2020, we checked in on how progress is going.

The city reached its goals in several sectors. It set a target for more than half of trips by Vancouver residents to be by foot, bicycle or public transit, and reached 53 per cent in 2016. It has planted 122,000 new trees, closing in on its goal of 150,000. Green jobs have grown by 35 per cent since 2010, and greenhouse gas emissions from city operations have been cut by more than half, according to a 2018 progress report. Read More