City must do more to curb emissions, Iveson says
2015 strategy to reduce greenhouse gases won’t meet global standard: report
Unless it takes dramatic actions, Edmonton will fail to reduce its carbon emissions to an internationally acceptable level, according to a new report released by city administration Thursday.
The report says that the city’s 2015 Community Energy Transition Strategy is insufficient in keeping global average temperature at a maximum 1.5 C increase. Edmonton committed to the 1.5 C benchmark as part of its 2018 Edmonton Declaration.
A maximum 1.5 C rise in global temperatures was highlighted by the U.N.’S Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2018 as a target to minimize the consequences of climate change, like rising ocean levels and food security.
The city says its new report reflects changes in the way climate change is understood since they created their original plan.
“Things are changing faster than we thought or would like and more urgent action is needed by policy-makers at all levels of government,” Mayor Don Iveson told reporters at City Hall Thursday afternoon.
“Clearly, we’re going to have to be more aggressive to achieve the reductions and efficiencies that are necessary to do our part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
The report outlines a carbon budget to demonstrate the level of emissions they are able to produce to comply with global standards. Between 2017 and 2050, when the city expects to be carbon-neutral, that budget is set at 155 megatonnes. At the city’s current usage, they will exceed that budget in eight years. If the city’s current plan is put into action as expected, they’ll overshoot the budget in 10 years.
Put another way, Edmonton is currently producing 20 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents per person per year. Its current reduction target is 11 tonnes per person, while the 1.5 C target would require that number dropping to three tonnes by 2030 and zero by 2050.
Mike Mellross, the city’s energy transition program manager, says Edmonton faces unique challenges in lowering its carbon emissions, in part due to its frigid winters. However, he argues that this presents more areas for improvements than some cities further along in the emission-reduction process.
Iveson evoked a lofty comparison when talking about the feat of reaching these goals — extraterrestrial travel.
“This is really the moon shot of our generation. Solving this problem is even more complicated than putting a man on the moon, and 50 years ago, we were able to do that,” Iveson said. “But when they set out to putting a man on the moon, they didn’t know exactly how they were going to do that. They just had a goal.”
City administrators expect to spend the next 18 months revising the climate plan and preparing it for implementation, though Iveson said he’d like to see a quicker timeline. Council is expected to vote on the new plan in fall 2020, with the plan ready for implementation by the start of 2021.
Mellross says that time will be spent engaging with industry, performing technical analysis and figuring out finances and funding. He had no estimations on the cost of implementation for a new plan.
“We will also continue to implement the Energy Transition Strategy as designed,” Mellross said, pointing to residential solar panel retrofitting and supports for businesses looking to reduce their emissions as among the programs that will continue. When asked how he’d pitch a new, more urgent climate plan to those worrying about the effect on Alberta’s economy, Mellross said that carbon reduction is a “job creation machine.”
“One of the things about energy retrofits and solar installations is that those jobs are hyperlocal. You have to have them here, you can’t outsource them out to other countries,” he said.
While he stressed that some specifics could change, Mellross said that some tangible outcomes from a new plan would be that 85 per cent of all new buildings in the city would have solar panels and all vehicles in the city would be electric-powered by 2040.
For Iveson, fulfilling these goals represents a societal obligation to future generations who will have to live with the consequences of climate change.
“We have to get there. It would be irresponsible not to,” Iveson said. “If we are the generation that fails to do this, how can I look my kids in the eye?
“We can and must rise to this.” The report will be discussed at city council’s executive committee meeting on Aug. 19.
If we are the generation that fails to do this, how can I look my kids in the eye? We can and must rise to this.