ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Roughly one month after the city declared a climate emergency, St. John’s Mayor Danny Breen signed the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy at the regular Monday council meeting, joining most other major Canadian cities and roughly 10,000 more from around the world that have made the commitment.
Within three years of the commitment, the covenant says the city pledges to develop, adopt, use and regularly report on the following:
- A community-scale greenhouse gas (GHG) emission inventory.
- Assessment of climate risks and vulnerabilities.
- Measurable, time-bound targets to reduce/avoid GHG emissions.
- An ambitious climate change adaptation vision and goals.
- Improve access to secure, sustainable and affordable energy.
- Formally adopted plan addressing climate change mitigation/low emission development, climate resilience and adaptation, and access to sustainable energy.
.@Mayors4Climate's annual report is out!
— Global Covenant (@Mayors4Climate) December 9, 2019
GCoM cities can avoid 24+ billion tons of CO2e by 2030, and 90+ billion tons by 2050 – that’s 13 times the current annual passenger road emissions of the US, China & India combined! Read it here👉https://t.co/1P11g5aMFo #GCoMDay #COP25 pic.twitter.com/6wAnD1NJK6
“It is significant,” Breen told reporters after the council meeting.
“It’s another piece as we move towards our sustainability plan.”
A draft of that plan is expected “very early” in 2020, and then specific actions will be implemented, Breen said.
He said the last city budget dedicated $100,000 towards related projects that council plans to work on throughout next year.
“I think what (the Global Covenant) does is it really puts down for council and councils in the future the method that we’re going to evaluate how we’re achieving, or how we’re addressing, our goals of climate change.
“And I think that’s important. It’s one thing to have a policy, it’s one thing to have a motion, and it’s one thing to have rules that we’re setting, but we have to report back regularly on those goals, and this sets out the format in which we do that.”
Breen said signing the commitment was something he wanted to do since before he was elected, and it’s something he’s been working on for the last two years since he’s been mayor.
The covenant’s specific pledges were envisioned, according to the document, to help meet and exceed the Paris Agreement objectives.
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