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MUNICIPAL CARBON ACCOUNTING & ACCOUNTABILITY

17th NOVEMBER, 2020 | Tracey Saxby

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Canada is not on track to achieve our greenhouse gas reduction targets.

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Every individual, every business, every industry,

and every local government needs to do their part.

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Goal

Objectives

To build capacity for local governments to track and report community-wide greenhouse gas emissions annually and catalyze climate action in Howe Sound communities

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Develop a Climate Action Report Card for municipalities to track emissions every year.

Develop a #ZeroCarbonChallenge tool for citizens and businesses.

Community outreach and engagement.

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Why municipalities?

  • Local governments are on the ground, doing the work.
  • They’re also on the frontlines of climate change.
  • Municipalities are responsible for 50-80% of greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Decisions on land use, buildings, local transport, and waste are controlled at the local level.
  • Local government is agile, and can adopt and test new policies quickly.
  • More collaboration at the municipal level to catalyze climate action.
  • Can more easily inspire transformational change with their constituents.

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What is (and isn’t) being measured?

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Why is it important to track emissions?

  • Establish a consistent baseline for every community in BC.
  • Identify key emission sources so we can target policies / public education campaigns.
  • Supports evidence-based climate action planning.
  • Tracking annual emissions allows municipalities to:
      • Identify what is working and what isn’t working
      • Evaluate and adjust policies
      • Experiment with new policies and share success
      • Improve accountability and transparency
      • Inspire community engagement and behaviour change
      • Enable municipalities to achieve their climate action targets

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Building capacity to track + report emissions every year

  • My Sea to Sky is working in partnership with Climate Caucus, BCIT, and CEA to develop and test the Climate Action Report Card tool, building on the EcoCity Footprint tool developed by BCIT. We’re currently looking for pilot communities and applying for funding.
    • 2021 Pilot communities in Howe Sound
    • 2022 Expand initiative across BC
    • 2023 Expand initiative across Canada
  • Will Lions Bay commit to measure greenhouse gas emissions in your region every year?
    • CEEI (buildings, transport, waste)
    • CBEI (consumption-based emissions inventory)?
    • Ecological Footprint?

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Benefits for Lions Bay

  • Funding for a Community Energy + Emissions Inventory that will be conducted by Community Energy Association (Value = $1,000).
  • We plan to apply for funding for future CEEIs for at least two more years (up to ten).
  • Funding for a Consumption-Based Emissions Inventory by BCIT (Value = $16,500)
  • Support from BCIT students to help collect and enter data.
  • Supports evidence-based climate action.
  • My Sea to Sky will engage residents through community outreach and engagement to catalyze climate action through the #ZeroCarbonChallenge.

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What we need from Lions Bay

NOW

  • A commitment to participate as a pilot community (region).
  • Staff support to identify budget and capacity needs to participate.
  • A letter of support for our funding applications.

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ONCE FUNDING IS CONFIRMED

  • ~20 hours of in-kind staff time (note: if this is problematic, we can apply for funding for this).

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Estimated staff time commitment

  • Support to access data: 8 hours
  • Test and provide feedback on tool: 8 hours per staff member
  • Communications + community engagement for tool launch: 2 hours
  • Participate in final project evaluation: 2 hours

TOTAL = 20 hours

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