Whitby Town Council pledged on Monday night to join the United Nations Race to Zero and Race to Resilience campaigns as part of its ongoing commitment to building a healthy, resilient, zero carbon community.
The town is committed to taking action on climate change and has developed a number of plans and programs to help ensure it eliminates greenhouse gas emissions by 2045 in corporate services and across the community by 80 per cent by the year 2050, while also responding to multiple climate related threats to ensure Whitby can adapt to a changing climate and remain resilient, said a notification.
Whitby Council formally declared Climate Change an Emergency in 2019. This declaration recognizes the immediate need to take action to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ensure the community is resilient. The town is currently creating a Climate Change Plan, which will provide a framework to address both climate change mitigation and adaptation.
The Plan will de developed in two phases:
- Climate Adaptation: Currently underway, the town’s Climate Adaptation Plan will identify the risks to environment, economy and society as a result of a changing climate. This plan will quantify these risks and identify actions that will ensure Whitby can remain resilient and continue to function and thrive in the face of future climate change events. Residents can help shape the Climate Adaptation Plan by sharing your experience of different weather events through the community climate journal being led by partners at I See Change.
- Climate Mitigation: Phase 2 will focus on how Whitby will eliminate greenhouse gas emissions across the community. It is anticipated that this portion of the plan will be initiated by the end of 2021.
Zero Carbon Whitby Plan
Zero Carbon Whitby was endorsed by council in March 2021. This plan serves as the town’s Corporate Energy Management Plan and Corporate Climate Adaptation Plan. Zero Carbon Whitby has been developed as a framework for implementing a low carbon decision mechanism across the organization. The plan derives the fair amount of emissions that Whitby’s corporate operations has available to spend (Carbon Budget) in order to support global greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. The Zero Carbon Whitby Plan identifies a corporate target of net-zero by 2045. This target was developed to reflect the town’s contribution to limiting the global annual average temperature increase to 1.5°C.
Embedded within the plan is a Carbon Reduction Framework – an overarching framework for greenhouse gas emissions management, extending over multiple years and all aspects of municipal operations. This framework empowers staff to develop and implement actions from the bottom-up to meet GHG reduction targets by aligning capital and operating budgets with GHG reduction targets. This plan also aligns with the Ontario Electricity Act.
Carbon Disclosure Reporting
The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) is a not-for-profit charity that runs the global disclosure system for investors, companies, cities, states and regions to manage their environmental impacts. The annual evaluation report is used as a tool for gaining an overview of environmental performance and how the town’s response can be improved in the future. Reporting through CDP meets annual reporting requirements as a member of the Global Covenant of Mayors.