While Corner Brook’s Climate Change Local Action Plan is comprehensive and a lot has been done, Andrew King said there is still much to do.
“It’s something we’re constantly working on to make the city as green and as sustainable as possible,” the City of Corner Brook's sustainable development technician said.
He’s been working on the initiative for the past six months but Corner Brook first joined the Partners for Climate Change in 2006. Efforts on the plan have been ongoing since.
The local action plan is one step in a five-step Partners for Climate Protection Program framework the City of Corner Brook signed onto with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. The federation developed the program to deal with climate change and cutting back carbon dioxide emissions.
At its public meeting Oct. 7, city council adopted Phase 3 of the Partners of Climate Change initiative as prepared by the city’s community services branch.
This step of the action plan will now be submitted to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities as a key milestone in recognizing and further developing the city's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
So far, the city has accomplished the first three milestones of the Partners for Climate Protection Program.
King said the aim for the city is a 20 per cent reduction in corporate (city-owned properties) greenhouse gas emissions and a six per cent reduction in community levels within 10 years.
King said the lower amount for community is due to restrictions in city jurisdiction. However, there are a lot of projects listed for the community sector, one of them being education programs aimed at shifting behaviour.
What was put to council at its recent public meeting was a continuation of the local climate action plan: What's been done and how the city is going to achieve the targets set out.
“I’m confident we will make the targets,” said King.
He said a prime example of one completed was the silver certified Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design of the City Hall building.
King said this building guides what the city wants to achieve in energy performance.
He said as city-owned buildings are replaced they will be put up with energy conservation in mind.
The city has also carried out extensive work at its civic centre to make it a more energy-efficient facility. It also montactivities of its public works fleet and considers this action plan when replacing city-owned vehicles.
“The plan is to reduce our carbon footprint any way we can, whether it be buildings or equipment used,” King said.
The Partners for Climate Protection program is based on a five-milestone framework:
• 1. Completing of a greenhouse gas and energy use inventory and forecast for the community and municipal operations.
• 2. Setting local greenhouse gas reduction targets.
• 3. Development of a Local Action Plan to meet established reduction targets.
• 4. Implementation of actions identified in an adopted Local Action Plan.
• 5. Monitoring and measurement of actions and results.
The goals:
• Goal 1: Become a greener and more sustainable city.
• Goal 2: Enhance knowledge and understanding of climate change.
• Goal 3: Conduct city operations with the target of improving energy efficiency and reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions.
• Goal 4: Engagement and Community Action: Create a partnership between the City of Corner Brook, industry commercial groups, and citizens.
• Goal 5: A collaborative effort of mitigating climate change through reductions in greenhouse gas.
Source: City of Corner Brook
