CITY OF VANCOUVER

POLICY REPORT
ENVIRONMENT

 

Date:

June 11, 2003

 

Author:

M. Holland
C. Sinasac

 

Phone No.:

6677 & 6695

 

RTS No.:

03444

 

CC File No.:

3501

 

Meeting Date:

June 24, 2003

TO:

Vancouver City Council

FROM:

General Manager of Engineering Services (in Consultation with the Cool Vancouver Task Force)

SUBJECT:

The Cool Vancouver Task Force's Discussion Paper on Greenhouse Gas Reduction Planning for the City of Vancouver

The City Manager recommends approval of the foregoing.

On October 16, 1990, Council approved in principle Clouds of Change Recommendation #1 to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20% as part of the actions to address global climate change issues, subject to future reports on costs and trade-offs involved in achieving the objectives and targets.

In 1995, Vancouver joined the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' "20% Club", which became the Partners for Climate Protection Program in 1998.

On April 23, 2002, Council adopted a Definition and Principles of Sustainability to guide, prioritize, and improve the sustainability of City actions and operations.

On May 2, 2002, Council unanimously carried the motion, proposed by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, to support the Canadian Government's ratification of the Kyoto Protocol.

On March 25, 2003, Council approved an emissions reduction target of 20% from 1990 levels for the corporation of the City of Vancouver, subject to evaluation of the implications of the target to ensure it is realistic. On this same date, Council created the Cool Vancouver Task Force and requested that it report back on June 24th, 2003 with a report on the components of a Greenhouse Gas Reduction Action Plan for both the corporation and the community.

PURPOSE &

This report is submitted to Council to convey the Cool Vancouver Task Force's Discussion Paper on Greenhouse Gas Reduction Planning to Council, in response to Council's request that the Task Force report back by June 24, 2003 on the components of a GHG Reduction Action Plan for the City.

This report also requests authorization and funds to support the next stages of work on the GHG Reduction Plan.

The Discussion Paper on Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reduction Planning for the City of Vancouver is the result of two and a half months of work by the Cool Vancouver Task Force and City staff to scope the issues around climate change and to identify GHG reduction opportunities for the City to consider.

Scientists throughout the world are in agreement that the earth's climate is warming and that the primary cause of that warming is human activity, particularly that which increases the presence and concentrations of gases in the atmosphere that are known as "greenhouse gases (GHG)." Furthermore, the impacts of climate change are expected to be significant.

The Cool Vancouver Task Force's Discussion Paper explores a wide range of issues around climate change from the science of climate change and the City's history in addressing global warming, to opportunities for reducing emissions in our personal lives, businesses, city development process, transportation, municipal management and others.

Staff are requesting Council's permission to hire additional expertise to assist staff and the Task Force in the evaluation of options that emerged during the past several months in order to identify the most cost-effective options to deliver the desired emissions reductions. This selection of high priority actions will be fashioned into a draft GHG Reduction Action Plan that will then be taken to the public for consultation in the fall.

The Task Force and staff intend to report back to Council in early 2004 with a final draft of a GHG Reduction Action Plan for the City for Council's consideration, following the consultation process.

The Task Force's Discussion Paper (Appendix A) is a limited distribution and on file in the City Clerk's Office.

The Science of Climate Change and its Impacts

Scientists throughout the world are in agreement that the earth's climate is warming and that the primary cause of that warming is human activity, particularly that which increases the presence and concentrations of gases in the atmosphere that are known as "greenhouse gases (GHG)." Six gases have been identified as GHGs of particular significance including:

Greenhouse gases warm the atmosphere by inhibiting the out-radiation of solar energy that hits the earth's surface, thereby trapping extra heat and warming the earth's atmosphere. The impacts of global warming are believed to be significant and generally include:

Initiatives to Address Climate Change

Initiatives are underway to address global warming and both prepare for its impacts and reduce the emission of GHGs. These initiatives are occurring at all jurisdictional levels, including international government agencies, the Canadian federal government, the provincial government, the regional government and many cities, corporations and non-governmental organizations in Canada.

The City of Vancouver has shown leadership on this issue in the past 15 years, including:

In addition to the initiatives noted above, Council has supported many other initiatives that address climate change indirectly, including:

Following Council's support of the federal government's ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, the City is moving forward with new plans to directly address the City's Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions through a number of venues, including:

OF PROCESS

The Task Force, represented a very wide range of interests and groups. The Task Force members were chosen by Council and the co-chairs of the Task Force to represent a broad enough range of interests to ensure the Discussion Paper and the proposed list of components for the GHG Reduction Action Plan would be comprehensive enough to take to the public for consultation. It is intended that the public consultation process would bring in many more voices and perspectives to add new issues and suggest priorities and refinements to the emerging Action Plan.

The Task Force met on three occasions and provided information to staff as the Discussion Paper was drafted. Each meeting was approximately half a day and extensive discussion and information was exchanged at each meeting. The expertise of the Task Force members was impressive and all members and City staff had the benefit of learning from each other.

City staff received advice and guidance from the Task Force on issues and options to consider for reducing GHG emissions in the city. City staff also completed extensive research and created a draft of the Discussion Paper. While initially, it appeared the document would be a draft Action Plan, it became apparent that the scope of information to be considered would lend itself better to a Discussion Paper, from which ideas could be evaluated and a more concise Action Plan could be developed.

The Task Force first reviewed a draft table of contents that staff created after they had reviewed GHG Reduction Plans from other jurisdictions. The table of contents was refined and staff received Task Force input and completed additional research to create a draft of the Discussion Paper.

The Task Force then reviewed the draft of the Discussion Paper, and provided additional feedback. Feedback was also sought from senior City staff on several occasions to ensure facts presented in the Discussion Paper were accurate regarding the City's goals and past and present initiatives or studies on various issues. Staff provided input of a clarification nature in most cases, rather than one of "editing" the recommendations and insights of the Task Force. As such, this Discussion Paper primarily reflects the advice of the Task Force.

DISCUSSION OF ISSUES

The Community Target for GHG Emissions Reduction

The Task Force recommended a minimum community reduction target of 6% below 1990 levels by 2010, acknowledging that further reductions will likely be required in the future in order to stabilize the climate. This target is discussed in chapter 6 of the Discussion Paper. A 6% reduction target is consistent with Canada's federal commitment in its December 2002 ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. As such, this target for the City suggests that the City is taking responsibility for its share of the federal commitment.

Although in the early 1990s Canada identified a commitment of a 6% reduction below 1990 levels, it has continued to increase its emissions since that time. As a result, based on projected emissions rates for 2010, the actual reduction required is closer to 26% from current patterns. With only six and half years remaining to 2010, the challenge of meeting this reduction is not to be underestimated.

GHG reduction is established for both the City as a corporation and for the larger community.
The City's corporate emissions are following a somewhat similar pattern to the federal emissions graph above although slightly less pronounced. The City's corporate goal is a 20% reduction below 1990 levels.

It is too early to identify the actual number of tonnes of "community" emissions that must be reduced by 2010 as there is a small outstanding issue of accurately determining what Vancouver's community baseline emissions were for 1990. This issue arises from how transportation emissions are allocated amongst municipalities and this issue is currently being resolved with the GVRD to the City's satisfaction.

The Task Force clearly identified the need to be able to explain the implications (costs and benefits) of the targets and components of the Action Plan prior to commencing consultation with the public. Thus, staff are asking Council for permission to hire some additional technical assistance to identify both what actions will be most cost-effective at reaching the proposed community reduction target and to identify the implications of those actions or priorities. With this information, staff are confident that it will become immediately apparent how realistic a reduction target of 6% is, as well as what the priority action areas should be and who the primary stakeholders will be in achieving the emission reductions.

Developing an Emissions Reduction Action Plan

The Task Force represented a wide array of expertise and as such, the scope of suggestions and direction was broad. Staff also researched many sources adding to the breadth of options for consideration. In the relatively short timeline the Task Force had to develop and consider the options, (three meetings over approx 2 months), it became apparent that there was insufficient time to focus the broad range of options into a focused Action Plan that would have the benefit of sufficient analysis to ensure it was the most cost effective path forward to meet Council's targets for emissions reduction.

Therefore, staff are asking permission to continue the work with the Task Force over the summer and fall to refine the options identified in the Discussion Paper into a focused Action Plan for community emissions reductions. Further research and analysis of the costs and benefits of various options as well as their potential effectiveness should highlight where the City should chose as its priorities.

At the same time, staff intend to work on a draft Action Plan for reducing the City's "corporate" emissions by 20% below 1990 levels by 2010, in accordance with Council's direction, and ask the Task Force to provide advice and comment as needed.

Currently the City's sustainability staff team is overseeing the administration of the Task Force and the development of the GHG Discussion Paper, draft Action Plan and associated consultation process. This process is thereby being integrated into a larger sustainability direction emerging in the City. It is also stretching out the time required to develop the Sustainability Action Plan for the City, and it is in this context that the following discussion on resources is offered.

Evaluation of Options

As noted above, staff are requesting permission from Council to hire expert assistance to identify the costs and benefits of various options to establish the most effective and efficient way to meet the proposed targets. There are a number of local and national consulting firms with this expertise that are easily accessible and furthermore, the City's work with the Partners for Climate Protection (PCP) process provides access to resources and information in this regard.

Should Council give permission to hire expert assistance for this evaluation, staff would proceed to develop a terms of reference for the work and intend to hire within a month or so. The experts would then work with Staff over the summer (July and August) and assist staff and the Task Force in the preparation of the draft Action Plan for presentation to Council in September 2003.

Consultation

Addressing climate change is an issue that affects everyone and for which everyone bears some responsibility. As such, the Task Force highlighted the importance of a full and comprehensive consultation process with the community. The Discussion Paper identifies in chapter 8 the range of the sectors and interests that may be involved in addressing GHG emissions. Not all may be able to be consulted with in detail, but there should be both information and venues for comment and discussion available to all.

Therefore, staff will be scoping the consultation process over the summer to identify the best process to solicit public input on options for GHG reduction. Additional resources are required for the costs of the consultation process, including communications, materials, meetings, education, support staff, and assistance.

It is difficult to identify a probable cost for such a consultation process, but experience in other cities through the PCP process would suggest the cost could be in the range of $100,000 or more.

GMEF Application

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities is managing two federal funds that support more sustainable planning and infrastructure projects. These funds include the Green Municipal Enabling Fund (GMEF) that can provide up to 50% of the funding for feasibility studies, and the Green Municipal Investment Fund that provides low interest loans for innovative infrastructure projects with high levels of environmental performance.

Council gave staff permission to apply to the GMEF funds for climate change projects on March 25, 2003. As part of the summer work developing the draft Action Plan, staff intend to develop an application to FCM to assist in funding this project.

There are a number of financial implications to the recommendations, including:

This report conveys to Council, as requested, an exploration of the components of a GHG Reduction Action Plan, in the form of the Cool Vancouver Task Force's Discussion Paper on GHG Reduction Planning for the City. The report also outlines the history, issues and options for the City to consider around how to reduce GHG emissions.

By evaluating the wide range of options in the next few months, the information in the Discussion Paper can be refined into a focused draft Action Plan that outlines both high priority actions and their implications associated with meeting Council's approved or proposed targets for GHG reduction. Through a comprehensive consultation process on the draft Action Plan and its implications, the community can be given the greatest chance to be educated on the issues, consider their options and implications, and provide effective feedback to the City on how best to proceed to meet our goals in addressing the challenge of climate change.

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