Corporate Climate Plan Adopted
Today, City Council voted unanimously in favour of adopting the City's Corporate Climate Plan.
This plan approximates the City corporation's share of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, aims to embed energy and GHG discussions in the budgeting process, establishes a cross-departmental team, sets the stage for implementation, as well as a reporting mechanism, and commits the City to achieve GHG reduction targets:
- 40% reduction by 2030 and a stretch target of 50% by 2030 from 2018 emissions
- Net-zero by 2050 at the latest (net zero means reaching an overall balance between emissions produced and emissions taken out of the atmosphere)
The plan provides a management framework that aims to implement 4.2% annual reduction in emissions. If St. John’s achieves the implementation of this path, it may reach Net-Zero as early as 2045.
“As an organization, and leaders in our city, we have an important role to reduce our contribution to climate change,” said Councillor Ian Froude, lead for Sustainability. “This plan sets a clear and ambitious goal and puts the strategies and internal structures in place to support staff and Council to identify, prioritize, and balance action on climate change with other City priorities.”
The next five to ten years are critical to setting St. John’s on the path to meet Newfoundland and Labrador’s GHG emissions reduction targets and to support national and global efforts. The framework is composed of three components:
- Proposed Corporate Targets
- Governance and Implementation Approach
- Strategies to achieve GHG reductions for the 2030 target and the 2050 target
The Plan identifies strategies and tasks for the short (1-2 years), medium (3-5 years) and long (>5 years) term that can be integrated with City operations to meet its proposed corporate targets.
Examples of strategies include further adoption of renewable energy systems and electrification, a corporate green standard for new buildings, energy efficiency, reduction of corporate waste, as well as a corporate carbon budget to support decision making.
The City continues to work on community targets and initiatives through the upcoming Resilient St. John's Climate Plan, scheduled to be released this year.
This work is part of the City’s Strategic direction to be a Sustainable City, as well as the City's commitment to the Partners for Climate Protection program through the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, and the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy.