Climate change and air quality
Climate change is recognized as one of our most serious global environmental problems, and results from an accumulation of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere. Recognizing the importance of dealing with climate change, on November 25, 1998, the City of Winnipeg committed to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) Partners for Climate Protection (PCP).This commitment requires the City of Winnipeg to develop a climate change action plan. And the objective of the plan is to develop a comprehensive greenhouse gas emissions reduction strategy for the City of Winnipeg’s municipal operations.
The Climate Change Action Plan was adopted by Council in September of 2006, and the first quarterly report came out in January of 2007. We’ll continue to post the reports each quarter:
An important part of the plan is the City’s greenhouse gas inventory. This shows how many tonnes of greenhouse gases are produced from the City’s operations. We follow a set of protocols developed by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to determine what we should be reporting on. The first inventory dates back to 1998, and the second inventory was done for 2003. We’re going to be reviewing the inventory each year from now on and we’ll post that information up here.
Our goal is to bring our civic emissions down to 69,500 tonnes by 2012. This will represent a 20% reduction from our 1998 totals. Here’s what our inventory looked like for 1998.
Notes:
1) All numbers are in tonnes of C02 equivalents
2) Solid waste refers only to corporate waste produced by municipal operations.
And here it is in 2003. You can see that GHG emissions were reduced by over 15% during this period.
If you’d like more information about climate change and to learn about what you can do, please visit the following sites:
- Bye Bye Beaters Program
Vehicle scrappage programs have been in operation for numerous years and in Canada alone since 1996. The objective is to remove vehicles from the road that are 1995 and older since they produce significantly higher vehicle emissions levels. - Climate Change Connection
Climate Change Connection aims to build awareness and to empower Manitobans to take action and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions - both individually and as a community. Climate Change Connection will work to assist Manitobans to make the changes necessary to live more sustainable and climate-friendly lifestyles. - Green and Growing: Acting on Energy and Climate Change
In 2006, the Province of Manitoba released ‘Green and Growing’, a green strategic framework for Manitoba. The first chapter deals with energy and climate change issues. - Partners for Climate Protection
The City of Winnipeg is a member of the Partners for Climate Protection, a network of more than 140 Canadian municipal governments who have committed to reducing greenhouse gases and acting on climate change.