Climate Action Plan

Municipality of Port Hope Climate Action Plan

The Municipality’s 2010 Corporate GHG inventory, along with agreed-upon reduction targets, was a tool for realizing emissions reductions. Municipal governments are in direct or indirect control of almost half of Canada’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Municipalities are capable of achieving significant reductions in their GHG inventories since many actions that can reduce energy use and emissions are within the powers of Municipal Council and staff.

This section presents the components for the 2010 Corporate Climate Action Plan. The objective and purpose of this Corporate Action Plan is first presented, followed by sections on “Data Collection” and management of the Corporate GHG inventories. Finally, the GHG reduction initiatives and action items that comprise the plan are presented, along with a decision matrix for prioritizing the proposed action items;

The 2010 Corporate Action Plan is structured in a hierarchy of:

• Subject Area (3 main areas for activity)
• Initiatives: 1 or more major initiatives within each subject area
• Actions: 1 or more activities to execute to fulfill the initiative.

The action plan is developed to guide the Municipality along the path to achieving its energy and GHG reduction targets.

1.1 Plan Objectives and Purpose

This plan :

• Provides a road map towards achieving reductions in energy use and GHG emissions for Port Hope’s Corporate operations to 2018
• Proposes a data collection plan to develop GHG inventories in future years
• Defines a list of Initiatives for GHG and energy reduction
• Defines a list of Actions that can be implemented by 2018
• Defines a monitoring plan

1.2 Data Collection Lessons learned from the data collection for the 2010 GHG Inventory

To report the Municipality’s Corporate GHG emissions in future years, the Municipality will need to gather and summarize energy use data from all of its facilities/offices, streetlights, water and sewage utilities, and also collect information on Corporate waste generation. It is important that the Municipality plans this process carefully to minimize the reporting burden, reduce the risk of errors that might occur while compiling data, and ensure that all departments are collecting information on an efficient and consistent basis.

1.3 Corporate Initiatives and Action Items

Three (3) major subject areas that the Municipality planned to target to enable the reduction of energy use and GHG emissions under the Corporate sector are listed below.

1.1 Energy Efficiency in Civic Buildings

Proposed initiatives to improve the energy efficiency of civic buildings included:

• Initiative 1: Evaluate and implement energy reduction opportunities for Municipal Buildings
• Initiative 2: Build all new municipal buildings to high energy efficiency standards

1.2 Mobile Fleet Efficiency

The Municipality operated approximately 100 pieces of equipment in 2018 including a mix of about 45 gasoline and diesel on-road vehicles, and 54 units of non-road vehicles and special purpose equipment including ATVs, tractors, trailers and other machinery. In 2008,[the year for which data was gathered for the 2010 Corporate Climate Action Plan]this use accounted for 16% of the Municipality’s energy consumption and about 22% of its GHG emissions.

Proposed plan initiatives to reduce carbon-intensive fuel consumption and GHG emissions from this sector included:

• Initiative 3: Implement a Fleet Energy Management Strategy
• Initiative 4: Evaluate and implement bio-based fuels

1.3 Municipal Operations and Utility Services

Utility services including; water, sewage, streetlights accounted for 37% of the corporate energy consumption in 2008 and resulted in 35% of the Municipality’s GHG emissions.

Proposed plan initiatives to improve the energy efficiency and reduce GHGs included:

• Initiative 5: Incorporate Energy Conservation and GHG reduction in Utility Operations
• Initiative 6: Promote Energy Efficiency in Purchasing Decisions

The Partners for Climate Protection Program

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) has developed the Partners for Climate Protection (PCP) Program to guide municipal governments towards reducing GHG emissions. As a background, the International Committee on Local Environmental Issues (ICLEI) formed the Cities for Climate Protection Program (CCP) in 1993, and the FCM formed the "20% Club" in 1995(Port Hope joined the 20% club in 1997). ICLEI's CCP Programs and FCM's 20% club merged in 1998 to form PCP initiative in Canada.

Over 200 municipalities from across Canada, representing 50% of Canada's population, have joined the PCP program. The PCP program defines a process for municipal governments to quantify their GHG emissions and then to develop and implement action plans that can achieve emissions reductions.

The PCP program consists of five milestones as listed below:

1. Conduct a baseline emission analysis for municipal operations and the community (completed).
2. Establish GHG reduction targets for both municipal operations and the community. (completed)
3. Develop a local action plan outlining action items to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions from municipal operations and throughout the community. (this document presents the Corporate Climate Action Plan only. See the Port Hope draft Community Climate Action Plan Oct.2020 for information on community-wide emissions and possible ghg reduction measures.
4. Establish a program to implement action items that will reduce GHG emissions.
5. Continue to monitor, verify, and report GHG reduction achievements and amend the action plan accordingly to reflect new strategies.

The Municipality has already conducted Milestones 1, 2 & 3. for corporate emissions 2010 and community emissions 2020