Non-electric cars to be banned downtown by 2030
City's climate plan has 46 measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
The city of Montreal will plant 500,000 trees, ban non-electric cars downtown, remove parking around métro stations, adopt the most stringent regulations in Canada for greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, and impose a “climate test” on itself when it makes decisions, according to a 10-year climate plan unveiled by Mayor Valérie Plante on Thursday.
The Climate Plan 2020-2030 also calls for the city to develop incentives for the public to adopt environmentally responsible habits, such as by providing municipal funding to businesses that deliver goods with bikes since they produce zero greenhouse gas emissions.
“Even if the pandemic isn't over, it's important for us to present this plan today,” Plante said at a news conference. “On the eve of having a vaccine (for COVID-19) ... there's a glimmer of hope there, there's light at the end of the tunnel, so it's the best time to recall a fight that's even bigger, more immense and more mammoth than the pandemic, which was a challenge, and it's climate change.”
The plan lists 46 measures aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 55 per cent by 2030, compared with 1990 levels. The ultimate goal, it says, is to render the city of Montreal's operations carbon neutral by 2040 and make the city as a whole carbon neutral by 2050.
However, the opposition at city hall called the plan “greenwashing” and a “communications stunt” since no budgets or deadlines are attached to measures.
“This climate plan, which unfortunately has no binding legal value, will not result in concrete measures,” said city councillor Francesco Miele, Ensemble Montreal's spokesperson on environmental matters. “I'm left to wonder if Projet Montréal wanted really to shift from their usual greenwashing and inaction over the last three years.”
The measures include:
■ Planting 500,000 trees over the next 10 years, with priority given to areas that are susceptible to heat waves. The city says that's over and above replacing diseased trees.
■ Encouraging “sustainable mobility” in neighbourhoods and future urban developments, such as the zero-carbon emission neighbourhood planned for the former Hippodrome site.
■ Increasing the proportion of electric vehicles, notably by converting all of the municipal fleet to electric. The plan also calls for a ban on non-electric vehicles in the greater downtown core by 2030. The city says it will consult businesses and residents before implementing the ban. Other cities have banned gasoline-powered cars in their downtown core. Paris, for example, uses a permit system to regulate vehicle access to its core.
■ Encouraging car sharing and reducing the number of single-passenger car trips by 25 per cent.
■ Eliminating outdoor parking around métro stations to make way for greening projects and real-estate development. The ban would cover municipal parking spaces and private and institutional parking around businesses and schools.
■ Using municipal bylaws and subsidies to encourage owners to make their buildings energy efficient.
■ Improving the energy performance of large buildings through a rating system and by publicizing their energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
■ Adapting all municipal buildings so they produce zero carbon emissions.
■ Integrating a climate test into city decision-making so that the GHG emission impact of a decision, and whether it helps achieve the city's climate goals, is taken into consideration.
■ Dedicating 10 to 15 per cent of the city's 10-year capital expenditure program to climate change adaptation. Plante pegged the value at $1 billion.
The plan also calls for the city to produce an annual report to track its progress on the different measures.
Environmental group Équiterre said it considers Montreal's climate plan innovative.
“There are a lot of interesting measures in the plan, but we are particularly pleased to see that a climate test will be imposed on all of the city's decisions,” Marc-andré Viau, the organization's director of government relations, said in a statement. “It sets a standard for all public administrations.”
Équiterre also lauded the plan to turn downtown Montreal into Canada's first zero-emission zone and the commitment to spend 10 to 15 per cent of the 10-year capital works program on climate change adaptation.
However, the group ended with a note of caution, saying it's “concerned about Montreal's ability to meet its GHG reduction targets. Its plan for reductions up until 2030 is unclear and the roadmap to 2050 remains to be defined.”
Ensemble Montreal's Miele said he doesn't consider even the specific measure of banning non-electric cars downtown by 2030, ahead of the Quebec government's target to ban the sale of new gasoline cars by 2035, to be credible. That's because the Projet Montréal administration has yet to provide dates for its existing environmental commitments, such as when it will start producing a carbon budget and when it will ban oil heating systems, he said.
Miele also pointed to an article in La Presse on Thursday revealing the city and the Quebec government had quietly agreed to allow contaminated industrial soil from Montreal's east end to be shipped to Ontario, where it can be landfilled, instead of decontaminating it in Quebec. Plante's office said the change emanated from Quebec.
The Plante administration is also behind on existing environmental projects, Miele said, noting that a new composting centre and biomethanation plant are again delayed.
As well, the Lachine recycling sorting centre, inaugurated a year ago, still doesn't have glass sorting equipment so the material is sent to landfill, he said.
“We're not against the objectives. We just don't believe Projet Montréal's greenwashing anymore,” Miele said, adding that failure to deliver on current promises makes it difficult “to believe them on what they're going to be planning for 2030.”