“What’s clear is a lot of the change we need to make with the environment and the climate has to be led by the cities now,” says Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, after reports that the federal Conservative government will not sign on to further commitments under the Kyoto Protocol.
Vancouver in recent years has aggressively embraced a green agenda. A 162-page “greenest city action plan” developed with the input of 35,000 people over several years has put Vancouver on track to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 2020 to 33 per cent of levels in 1990.
The city’s accomplishments so far are impressive: curtailing waste to reduce landfills and incineration, setting aside bike lanes, starting innovative composting initiatives, building community gardens, installing electric-vehicle charging stations. The list goes on.
Vancouver has pushed ahead on its own steam, without waiting for support from Ottawa. While the country fell far behind on its international commitments in recent years, exceeding Kyoto targets by around 25 per cent, Vancouver has already cut its greenhouse-gas emissions to slightly below 1990 levels.
The city is doing so much that neither Mr. Robertson nor Andrea Reimer, who is spearheading the changes as chair of the city’s standing committee on planning and environment, could actually pinpoint what would change for Vancouver if Canada later this month gave notice of its withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol.
A day after saying the international agreement was in the past, federal Environment Minister Peter Kent indicated some willingness to accept a successor to Kyoto that could take effect in 2015. Countries at the Durban climate summit have not yet responded to the alternative approach.
Mr. Robertson this week referred to continuing efforts when asked exactly what Vancouver would do without Ottawa. Ms. Reimer said Wednesday the federal government’s foot-dragging on climate change will serve as a reminder that “there is no cavalry coming over the hills” and the city will have to continue on its own.
Vancouver has been working on reducing its emissions for the past 21 years, she said. The city has made significant strides in changing how waste is handled and in transportation. The next step is to deal with substantial emissions from privately owned buildings.
“We have to figure out how to get 20 per cent of the buildings in the city retrofitted,” she said. With limited regulatory powers and minimal funding, the city has cobbled together several partnerships with the private sector for retrofitting condos. “If [the federal government is] going to continue to be inactive, we will just have to bring in that many more partners to fill the gaps they are leaving,” she said.
Undeterred by the federal position, Vancouver will meet Kyoto targets without Ottawa’s help, Ms. Reimer said. If Ottawa was onside, more cities across Canada could undertake similar initiatives and the country would be better off.
Dale Marshall, a climate change policy analyst at the David Suzuki Foundation, said the federal government’s commitment to Kyoto has symbolic importance. “It would mean we are willing to take action on climate change,” he said. Withdrawing from Kyoto sends the opposite message. “You do not pull out to do more on climate change; you pull out to do less.”
That means cities should not be looking for a national transportation strategy to cut emissions or policies backed up by funding to encourage retrofitting, he said.
As Mr. Robertson says, it will now be up to those cities across Canada who are concerned about climate change to forge their own way. But that does not mean that nothing will be done on climate change in Canada.
Municipal governments can make a difference, regardless of federal policies. Vancouver has already shown how much can be accomplished without the support of Ottawa.
