Major Cities Lead Smaller Municipalities in Climate Policy, Active Transportation

This is a reprint of an article published October 15, 2024 by The Energy Mix, an Ottawa-based community news site and e-digest on climate change, energy, and the shift off carbon (see original post here). It is reprinted here with the permission of the organization. You can read more articles by The Energy Mix, and sign up for their newsletter, by following this link.

Canada’s major cities are well ahead of smaller municipalities in addressing climate change, with general climate policies and active transportation plans present in most but adaptation plans, methane reduction measures such as composting, and routine progress reports not as common.

Those were some of the key findings of the sixth annual National Climate League (NCL) report, issued October 3 by Climate Reality Project Canada (CRPC).

Unlike CRPC’s previous reports, which ranked Canadian cities on climate-related quality-of-life indicators such as air quality and bike lanes, this year’s NCL offers insights into how 53 municipalities across Canada—ranging in population from 15,000 to over a million—are performing on 23 policy indicators in key areas of municipal climate action.

Eleven indicators focus on general climate policy, from climate adaptation plans and net-zero targets to citizen advisory committees and climate levies.

Five indicators dig into what municipalities are doing to build green and equitable transportation systems, while three address efforts to support green buildings, both existing and new. The remaining indicators measure climate progress in waste systems and the development of natural infrastructure such as urban forests and tree canopy.

All 10 provinces are represented in the report. No territories were included, CRPC says, because it couldn’t recruit participants from the North.

Big Cities Outperform Smaller Peers

While ranking is kept to a minimum, this year’s report closes with a figure that shows big cities well ahead of smaller communities in meeting key climate action indicators. Calgary and Toronto share the top spot, with 80% of all indicators met. Vancouver and Edmonton come next, at 75%, followed by Ottawa at 70%, then Montreal, London, Ont., and Langley, B.C. at 65%.

Smaller communities with more limited capacity are clearly struggling: for example, Brandon, Man., population 53,000, meets only 25% of the NCL’s indicators and Truro, N.S., population 13,400, meets only 10%.

Thirty-nine of the 53 municipalities have climate plans, with larger cities more likely than smaller ones to have a plan on the books. Peachland, Salmon Arm, and Penticton, all in southern British Columbia, all worked with the non-profit Community Energy Association to develop climate plans, an approach that “shows the important role an affordable and skilled organization can have in supporting small and rural climate planning,” the report states.

Halifax and Orillia, Ont., both received mentions for strong climate plans rooted in “holistic approaches” and “clear leadership.”

But many of the communities have yet to develop implementation plans for their climate policies beyond timelines and “high level” cost estimates, the NCL reports. “Implementation strategies were less likely to include the responsible department or metrics of success, and even less likely to discuss funding sources or outside partners.”

The report cites Vernon, B.C., population 45,000, as a community with a “fairly detailed implementation strategy” that includes specific funding programs from the province and provincial utility BC Hydro. But across the 39 cities with climate plans, 23 “do not have a progress report that could be located by volunteers,” writes CRPC. And financial and capacity constraints are preventing many Canadian municipalities from conducting regular greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories.

Only 25 of the municipalities have climate adaptation plans, despite the urgent need to support more vulnerable and more frequently excluded populations.

Active Transportation Plans

Active transportation plans that get people out of cars and moving under their own power are critical to encouraging needed changes in infrastructure and behaviour to cut municipal emissions, CRPC says. Thirty-nine of the communities have some version of a plan on the books.

Complete streets policies are far less common, with only 12 surveyed communities pursuing the creation of streets designed for all modes of travel, not just cars. Quebec City’s 2017 pledge to remake 25% of its roads into “rues conviviales” (welcoming streets)—with considerable input from residents—is now moving toward implementation. “As of mid-2024, the city’s website shows 24 projects completed, with another 11 in planning stages,” notes CRPC.

Of the 44 municipalities in the survey with transit systems, only 14 offer a low-income pass. Calgary stands out for its sliding scale fare structure, with monthly passes available for as little as $5.80 in 2024.

Green Building Standards

The presence of or plans for fossil fuel phaseouts, green building standards, and energy retrofit programs are the three indicators the NCL uses to measure Canadian municipalities’ progress in reducing GHG emissions from buildings. Some 19 municipalities have set phaseout targets, but only four—Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo, B.C., and Montreal—are now implementing regulations.

Twenty-three municipalities “had some form of green building standard for energy efficiency, making it much more common than regulations phasing out fossil fuels,” the report says. Eighteen of the 23 are in B.C., showing the value of the province’s Energy Step Code.

Only 14 of the 53 municipalities have stand-alone energy retrofit programs, though several others have introduced top-ups on provincial programs. Kamloops, B.C., for example, offers $350 to residents looking to switch to an air source heat pump via the CleanBC Better Homes and Home Renovation Rebate.

Waste Reduction Needs Work

Waste diversion targets and composting programs are critical to reducing methane generated from municipal waste, notes CRPC, but much work remains to be done.

“About half of the municipalities included had some kind of waste management plan with associated targets, while the remainder either do not have a plan, or fall under a larger regional waste management plan,” CRPC writes.

Some 29 communities have municipal composting programs, 21 of them mandatory. Ten offer no service to multi-unit buildings, though five of those indicated programs were in the works.

Remembering Matt Chapman

The report includes a memorial to Matthew Chapman, the NCL’s founder and original project leader, who died suddenly on March 18 at age 40. An opening paragraph in this year’s edition of the National Climate League report remembers Matt’s “creativity, his sense of fun, and his value for meaningful collaboration and participation—all of which infused his vision for this project.”

Gaye Taylor is a Senior Writer for The Energy Mix.