Progress has been slow on reducing City of Powell River’s greenhouse gas emissions, but a soon-to-be-formed committee may help pick up the pace, say city officials.
Emissions from the city’s vehicle fleet and buildings last year remains roughly at the same level as 2014, said city director of planning Thomas Knight.
Knight presented information to the committee of the whole meeting Tuesday, August 30, on actions the city had taken during the past year as part of its requirement in the province’s climate action revenue incentive program, as well as progress made determining a greenhouse gas discharge baseline for the city.
The city will receive approximately $50,000 as a refund of the provincial carbon tax.
“A lot of the actions we take are paper-related: changing bylaws and making grant requests,” said Knight. “Very few are things that really relate to lowering real carbon emissions.”
While the city has completed its Integrated Community Sustainability Plan last year, a plan that outlines a number of actions that would lower the city’s emission levels, more work is needed to make real reductions, said Knight.
Though Knight said he did not have the exact figure worked out for gas emissions for 2015, he said he does not expect it to be much different than the previous year’s.
Total emissions for 2014 is calculated at 1,213 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, a measurement of gas emissions, including carbon dioxide, bio-methane, methane and nitrous oxide.
The provincial government has legislated that the city meet reduction targets of 33 per cent of 2007 levels by 2020.
City vehicle emissions account for the majority of carbon at 69 per cent while the city’s buildings, including the MacGregor Building and Dwight Hall, contribute to 30 per cent. The remaining one per cent is attributed to solid waste, according to Knight’s report. “Given that transportation accounts for the majority of our emissions, it is highly unlikely the 2020 targets will be met,” said Brewer.
Totals for 2015 are expected in November and may help the city’s new sustainability committee move forward on implementing actions from the Integrated Community Sustainability Plan, said councillor Rob Southcott.
“The plan is good and a great starting point for things to do,” said Southcott, “but progress is not going to happen unless we actually engage it with what we’re doing with the sustainability committee.”
It is expected the working group could form before the end of December.
“A committee with broad representation tasked with ensuring actions outlined in the sustainability plan are implemented could help meet our reduction targets,” said councillor Russell Brewer, “and make our community accountable.”
