The City of Victoria is looking into how to ramp up its efforts to meet climate targets.
Coun. Jeremy Caradonna, who put forward a successful motion this week asking staff to report back on the matter, says the city used to be a leader on climate, but can no longer lay claim to that role.
“In my estimation, we’ve fallen off the pace over the last few years. We’re no longer seen as in the vanguard. And more importantly, we’re off the pace on meeting our own targets,” he said Thursday.
“So I believe that if this council is serious about climate action, and if we view ourselves as climate champions, then we need to redouble our efforts.”
The Climate Leadership Plan, adopted in 2018, committed the city to an 80 per cent reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions and a transition to 100 per cent renewable energy by 2050.
City staff have been asked to look at the implications of a updating the plan with a series of measures, including establishing an annual carbon budget, setting and tracking reduction targets for consumption-based emissions, moving up the date to phase out oil-heating tanks in the city to 2027 from 2030, quantifying the economic impact of climate change on the city, enhancing climate emergency planning and committing to a fully circular economy by 2050.
Staff would be expected to report back to council within six months.
A progress report released this year showed the city had cut its emissions by 24 per cent since 2007, despite a growing population. However, it warned the city would have to pick up the pace to meet its long-term goals.
The report notes that of the 85 actions identified in the plan, 59 per cent are either underway or in early stages, 23 per cent are complete, and 18 per cent will be initiated in the future.
Caradonna said a lot of things in the Climate Leadership Plan are working, and he hopes the new measures will complement what’s underway.
“Climate change is no longer a future problem, it’s a now problem,” he said, pointing to recent extreme-weather events like heat waves, heavy rain and flooding that have had devastating effects on the region.
“And there’s so much more that we can be doing as a community to undertake climate emergency planning so that people actually survive and thrive during unforeseen or extreme events.”
Coun. Dave Thompson said “rapid, deep and immediate” reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions are needed, and there is no time to lose.
“Every one of those words matters — rapid, deep and immediate,” he said. “The city’s not in a leadership position anymore, not because city staff haven’t been doing enough — the fact is that other governments have really accelerated their level of ambition and action on climate leadership.”
Coun. Matt Dell said passing the motion sets the direction for council for the next few years.
“It sets a tone for it early and allows us, ideally, to get out the way and let staff spend the next four years looking into this type of ambitious climate action,” he said.
Coun. Chris Coleman warned, however, that adding to the to-do list for city staff would likely have an impact on existing work plans.
“We’ve identified this as a keynote for us, but we also have to be very aware that staff now have to rejig their work plans.”
