P6(ii)
POLICY REPORT
ENVIRONMENT
Date: April 30, 1996
File #: CC0196
TO: Vancouver City Council
FROM: Special Office for the Environment
SUBJECT: Environmental Agenda
RECOMMENDATIONS
A. THAT the Environmental Policy statement contained in this
report as Appendix B be adopted.
B. THAT the Environmental Agenda (Appendix D*)be endorsed and
that staff be instructed to print and broadly circulate the
document.
C. THAT the Special Office for the Environment investigate and
report back on the feasibility, costs and benefits of
enrolling the City of Vancouver in the international Local
Agenda 21 campaign.
MANAGERS' COMMENTS
The General Managers of Community Services and Engineering
Services RECOMMENDS approval of A, B and C.
COUNCIL POLICY
The City's Mission Statement speaks of a City which cares about its
environment. The associated objectives include the "protection and
improvement of the environment". The City's values include excellence,
responsiveness and leadership.
Council received the City's first State of the Environment Report in
late 1994.
PURPOSE
This report brings before Council a proposed Environmental Policy and a
draft Environmental Agenda which endeavour to operationalize and
formalize the principles espoused in the City's Mission Statement. The
Environmental Agenda seeks to indicate some relative priorities to the
expenditure of public money to achieve the protection and improvement
of the environment.
*LIMITED DISTRIBUTION TO COUNCIL
BACKGROUND
In 1994 the Special Office for the Environment presented Council with
the first State of the Environment Report for the City. This "report
card" on the environment gave some indication of where the City's
efforts to protect and improve the environment might best be
channelled.
One way of looking at the implementation of the City's stated
objectives of protecting and improving the environment is illustrated
in Figure 1.
Flowing from the City's Mission statement are a series of objectives,
including protection and improvement of the environment. Although the
City has a number of programs, policies and initiatives which seek to
achieve these objectives, we are lacking a concise set of environmental
policies which we can point to as reflective of our organizational
commitment to the environment.
Flowing from the corporate environmental policies is the environmental
scan, or State of the Environment Report along with input and advice
from the public and advisory bodies such as the Focus Group on the
Environment. The State of the Environment Report is not in itself an
ending; it only serves to indicate where we are in our stewardship of
the environment.
The next step is usually some form of environmental agenda or action
plan through which we begin to correct some of our past damage and
prevent future degradation of the environment. An environmental agenda
can take many forms and can be quite general or quite specific. Staff
have chosen to parallel the structure of the State of the Environment
Report and focus on the same categories of issues.
DISCUSSION
Staff have identified a need to formalize and link the stated City
objectives of protecting and improving the environment with the actions
already underway and those proposed in the Environmental Agenda. A
number of municipal organizations and many private sector companies
have adopted environmental policies which formalize for internal and
external constituents what the organization has committed itself to.
For example, a copy of Calgary's environmental policy statement is
attached for Council's information as Appendix A. These should be
viewed as corporate policy rather than political direction, leaving
Council free to comment on senior government environmental initiatives.
The existence of an environmental management plan, including
environmental policies which are achievable, is part of a prudent
approach to environmental protection and is supported by our external
auditors.
The proposed wording for an Environmental Policy for the City of
Vancouver is contained in Appendix B and closely parallels wording used
in Calgary, Edmonton and other Canadian cities. The intent contained
in the wording is not new - we have been applying these principles for
many years. For the first time, however, it will be formally adopted
by Council and set down in writing for communication to our communities
and our employees.
Since the receipt of the State of the Environment Report by Council in
1994 staff have been working on the preparation of an environmental
agenda and action plan. One of the products of this work is an
Environmental Trends document (attached as Appendix C*) which parallels
the Finance Department's Trends document but focuses on environmental
indicators. This document will be updated every three years to enable
the City to track trends over time. The structure of the Environmental
Agenda follows a general format as follows:
- Issue (including "grade and trend" from the SOER)
- Current Status (including indicators, data availability)
- Goals & Objectives (including Council Policy & time lines)
- Action Plan (including priority, approx. $ cost & Lead Agency)
The preparation of an Environmental Agenda was a challenge for several
reasons:
œ many of the actions contained in the document are already underway
(thereby implying a high priority).
œ some of the actions have been mandated by senior levels of
government, with little choice for the City but to do them.
*LIMITED DISTRIBUTION TO COUNCIL
œ lack of data in some areas, especially costs and benefits.
œ lack of a recognized framework for assigning priorities to
environmental improvements.
This last issue has been the most challenging and the most frustrating,
given that Council has requested some kind of prioritization of
environmental issues by staff over the past five years. Staff note
that considerable work is being done, both in Canada and elsewhere on
this issue and we hope to be able to report back within the next year
or two on an acceptable prioritization methodology. In the meantime
some of the "tools" or criteria available are:
- cost/benefit analysis utilizing full cost accounting
- scope and severity of the environmental risk
- social equity
- impacts on the economy
- absence/presence of adverse effects (human & ecological)
- ease of implementation
- effectiveness of intervention
- appropriateness (of jurisdiction)
- political/public support
- current trend and previous grade on SOER
These have been used to roughly distinguish between high and medium
priority issues and actions in this version of the Environmental
Agenda. With further refinements in the criteria and their application
we hope to fine tune the prioritization in future updates of the
Agenda.
The inescapable reality is that, given competing interests and unfunded
mandates from senior governments, there will never be enough resources
available to implement all of the actions concurrently. Although
Vancouver citizens have, in previous questionnaires expressed support
for paying a little more (~$200/yr) in taxes to fund environmental
improvements, it is highly likely that these incremental resources
would be swallowed up very quickly within just one of the issue areas.
Fortunately, not all of the actions listed in the draft Agenda require
the expenditure of resources. In some cases the environmental
improvement can be effected through behaviour change, in other cases
through sustainable land use and transportation policy; and in others
by advocating for action by senior levels of government.
Public Involvement:
Ideally the production of an Environmental Agenda would involve the
public in some fashion, as has been the case in other jurisdictions and
for other initiatives (e.g. City Plan, Transportation Plan) in
Vancouver. The Agenda as presented is predominantly a staff-generated
document based nonetheless on issues and priorities that the public has
indicated are of concern to them. The draft document was reviewed by
the Focus Group on the Environment but this review generated few
suggestions for change. A lot of what is included in the Environmental
Agenda is based on existing public consultation through various public
processes (e.g. City Plan, Clouds of Change, Transportation Plan, Urban
Landscape Task Force). Staff do not perceive much added value in
subjecting the Agenda to a broader consultative process at this time.
Local Agenda 21
The Environmental Agenda, combined with the other consultative
processes such as City Plan and the Transportation Plan, fits very
nicely into the definition of a Local Agenda 21. Local Agenda 21 is
the UN-recognized process for implementing sustainable development at
the local level. Agenda 21, the U.N. global action plan for
sustainable development adopted by UNCED in June 1992, states that "by
1996, most local authorities in each country should have undertaken a
consultative process with their populations and achieved a consensus on
a 'local Agenda 21' for their community."
Staff are of the opinion that the Environmental Agenda, coupled with
the consultative processes such as City Plan, the Urban Landscape Task
Force and the Transportation Plan, meets the definition of a Local
Agenda 21. Submitting the Environmental Agenda to the International
Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) would reinforce
Vancouver's commitment to "Think Globally, Act Locally". The only
other Canadian city that we are aware of that has registered a Local
Agenda 21 is Hamilton-Wentworth. Staff would explore any associated
costs and implications of registering as a Local Agenda 21 before
proceeding.
IMPLEMENTATION/COMMUNICATION PLAN:
The Environmental Agenda will be printed and broadly distributed upon
adoption. In addition, it will be put on the City's Web site. The
potential registration of the Environmental Agenda as a Local Agenda 21
will also provide some national and international exposure and
awareness of Vancouver's commitments to the environment.
The Environmental Policy, if adopted, will be communicated to all
employees and new hires and will be conspicuously posted in civic work
sites. In addition it will be broadly circulated in the community,
both in hard copy and electronic versions.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
The adoption of a prioritized Environmental Agenda should, all things
being equal, result in gradual but noticeable improvements in the
local, regional and global environment. The imposition of lower
priority environmental improvements by other levels of government,
especially if they are unfunded or underfunded mandates, may delay or
negatively impact on the delivery of higher priority environmental
programs at the local level.
SOCIAL IMPACTS/IMPACTS ON CHILDREN AND YOUTH
Our children and youth may well benefit from environmental improvements
carried out in a planned and prioritized fashion, without unnecessarily
jeopardizing the financial viability of the City.
FINANCIAL IMPACTS
The practice of environmental stewardship and urban sustainability can
lead to financial benefits if delivered in a cost effective,
prioritized fashion. Many environmental programs have positive net
present values (e.g. energy retrofits or reduction in fuel
consumption). Other initiatives have high costs which can be recovered
through user-pay approaches, providing a positive feedback on the true
costs of our choices and behaviour.
The costs of producing and distributing a finalized Environmental
Agenda are minimal and can be dealt with within existing budgets.
CONCLUSION
This report recommends the adoption of two major policies which will
formalize the means by which the City seeks to meet its stated
objectives of protecting and enhancing the environment. The first is
an Environmental Policy for the City, flowing from its Mission
Statement and Key Principles. The second is an Environmental Agenda, a
road-map of sorts, to guide the City into the next millenium in its
endeavours to create a sustainable community.
* * * * *
APPENDIX B
CITY OF VANCOUVER
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
The City of Vancouver is committed to protecting and improving its
natural environment by adhering to and promoting the principles of
urban sustainability. The City of Vancouver, together with its
citizens, has a significant influence on the local, regional and global
environment. The City believes that stewardship of the environment is
a responsibility shared by all Vancouverites and undertakes to foster
and encourage this stewardship by:
1. Ensuring environmental considerations are integrated into all City
of Vancouver decisions respecting planning, growth, service delivery,
finance and operations;
2. Initiating and promoting compliance with municipal by-laws
protective of the environment;
3. Advocating for appropriate environmental protection action by other
levels of government and the private sector;
4. Ensuring that the City's own operations comply with environmental
legislation;
5. Involving and communicating with its citizens and businesses in the
establishment and attainment of the City's environmental objectives;
6. Encouraging and demonstrating the wise use of natural and fiscal
resources; and
7. Adopting and updating an environmental agenda and action plan to
achieve the City's environmental objectives.