‘Ambitious’ 25-year environmental roadmap needs council OK
A final green plan that will provide all city corporate operations a roadmap that will guide energy reduction and water conservation strategies over the next 25 years will seek formal approval from council June 3 after it was adopted by energy, land and environment committee members Thursday.
The Environmental Framework provides a sustainable plan for all city departments that include tangible actions the city can execute, measure and monitor to ensure all departments are moving forward with environmental initiatives.
Staff say the development of the 140-page draft that will be presented to council and has been a complex undertaking due to cross-departmental implications, budgets and required behavioural shifts from each department.
Adria Coombs, manager of environmental strategy and compliance and author of the report, says it will provide all city departments a plan to work together toward the framework’s goals and targets.
She explains environmental initiatives can often conflict with priorities within each department and provided this example of a conflict to the News.
“Say we want to plant more trees, that means we’re using more water,” says Coombs. “So we want to be really mindful of what kind of trees we’re selecting and the types of trees that we’re planting and where we’re planting them.
“How is that benefiting our temperatures and the ability for our grass to use less water because it’s covered by the shade?”
Coombs says the framework allows all departments to look to move forward in the same direction and “look at it from the same lens.”
The new 25-year plan focuses on five environmental topics that include water conservation, encouraging use of low-carbon and renewable energy, promoting local agriculture, increasing water reduction opportunities to reduce the amount sent to landfills and supporting increased access to alternative transportation and enhanced connection to nature.
“I think one of the benefits of the environmental framework is that we’re able to centralize and showcase all of our environmental initiatives from each department,” says Coombs. “And there’s awareness from each department that other departments are moving forward in certain ways.”
Coombs explains the approved framework will be led corporately by internal departments and will not be pushed onto members of the community.
“We’re really looking at monitoring and measuring and reporting of the actions on an annual basis and bringing more awareness for the community and our internal departments.
The framework seeks to achieve 13 goals including:
— Achieve a community-wide reduction in potable water consumption;
— Develop enhanced stormwater management planning and watershed protection;
— Collaborate, integrate, and educate on energy efficiency for city operations, generation and distribution systems;
— Enhance and optimize energy efficiency and resilience of new and existing city buildings;
— Reduce community-wide GHG emissions by implementing actions for emissions reduction within City buildings, fleet and operations;
— Increase clean and/or renewable sources of electricity to the electrical grid;
— Protect indoor and outdoor air quality through city operations;
— Enhance and protect the quality of ecosystems;
— Encourage the production and consumption of local food;
— Increase opportunities for the reuse and recycling of waste and the total amount of waste diverted from landfill;
— Increase opportunities for public and active transportation to improve the health and well-being of its residents and the environment;
— Promote healthy, sustainable and vibrant communities by efficient use of land, promoting compact communities and increased access to open space;
— Foster a collaborative and inclusive community that celebrates heritage, promotes shared learning, and ensures equality in environmentally sustainable initiatives;
In December 2022 council approved capital and operating budgets to support the framework.
Coombs will present the Environmental Framework to councillors during their meeting June 3 seeking formal approval.
Coun. Darren Hirsch told the committee, “Here’s some tangible stuff ... it’s a very elaborate, long report for sure.”