A climate action plan for Port Coquitlam needs to balance costs with outcomes, says the city's mayor.
Brad West told a committee of council meeting Tuesday, March 1 that the new Climate Action Plan that is being developed can’t be hard on disadvantaged people.
His comments come as hundreds of residents took part in a climate action survey about what they wanted to see happen so the city is better able to address issues such as flooding, heat waves and wildfires.
While West acknowledged the importance of coming up with a plan to set targets and reduce greenhouse gasses, he said the city needs to move "thoughtfully."
He was told by staff the city is coming up with a made-in Port Coquitlam plan that addresses city and residents' concerns specifically.
Still, making bags and paper cups cost more shouldn't be part of plan, West said.
CHAMPAGNE ENVIRONMENTALISM A WORRY
"From my perspective, you know, what has to go hand in hand with our action around climate is a sense of economic fairness and justice."
West cited the City of Vancouver, which he said introduced "pricing schemes around takeout containers and bags and saw that the impacts of that were felt disproportionately on poor people, and then they had to reverse course, and go back to the drawing board."
"That really highlights the importance of of being thoughtful and considerate in these actions," West said.
Indeed, the City of Vancouver took a second look at its initiative to make people pay 25 cents for each single use cup at fast food restaurants and coffee shops, a move some called "champagne environmentalism."
TARGETS NEEDED TO LIMIT CLIMATE CHANGE
But Vancouver city councillors ended up keeping the fee, as well as a charge for single-use bags and re-usable bags.
In Port Coquitlam, a survey showed that residents are concerned about climate change.
Top three issues among respondents were flooding from intense rain (63 per cent), extreme heat (63 per cent), and flooding from rising river levels (62 per cent).
As for what they were prepared to do to reduce their carbon footprint, most survey respondents opted for no-cost or low-cost options, such as walking or biking and recycling: Less popular initiatives were switching to home heat pumps and joining an environmental group.
However, switching to an electric car appealed to some, with 40 per cent of 526 responses indicating an interest in driving an electric car.
More than 200 people took the survey.
Other councillors, meanwhile, said the city has more work to do to reduce its carbon footprint.
Coun. Nancy McCurrach congratulated city and community efforts to build rain gardens to deal with storm water run off and said there should be more gardens like the one established at Lions Park.
Coun. Laura Dupont, meanwhile, said the city needs to adopt targets, such as those proposed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to keep warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius and avoid catastrophic effects.
"We have to do our duty to not exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius warming. That's a super important part there," said Dupont, who also welcomed the plan for youth engagement.
"It's their future, you know, and the risks they face are a disproportionate amount of the risks as they are vulnerable people in our community."
WHY DO A CLIMATE ACTION PLAN
In November 2019, Port Coquitlam council approved $150,000 funding for a plan to identify both corporate and community-wide actions to deal with climate change.
Targets will be set for climate change mitigation, such as reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and proposing adaptation measures, such as responding to and preparing for changes through a "low-carbon resilience approach," a staff report says.
Best practice right now for local government is a 40- to 50-per cent GHG reduction by 2030 and to be carbon neutral by 2050.
To be completed by July 2022, the plan will include:
- an assessment of current community and corporate greenhouse gas emissions
- projected emissions scenarios to 2050
- a set of integrated actions to both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to a changing climate
- an implementation road map with clear guidelines for monitoring progress
— with a file from Mike Howell, Vancouver is Awesome
