Description

There remains little doubt that Climate Change is a reality and that a significant portion of the responsibility for this change lies with our use of fossil fuels and an increase in the level of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide, in the atmosphere. There is also no question that this is a complex issue to deal with and that visible signs of success in reducing the rate of climate change will be very difficult to identify.

The City of Regina Council believes, however, that the City and Community must take action to reduce its emissions and seek to become part of a growing movement globally to reduce the rate of change in the climate. The administration of the City has successfully implemented a program to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases generated by City operations and will continue to take action. In order to engage the community, City Council created the Green Ribbon Community Climate Change Advisory Committee (the Green Ribbon Committee) in 2000. This Committee, comprised of members of the community with a desire to see residents of Regina take action to reduce their emissions, was mandated to develop recommendations to Council for an action plan to engage the community. This report expresses the deliberations and consultations of that committee.

Table of Contents

 Background:

-The Need for a Local Greenhouse Gas Reduction Strategy (3-7)

-Key Messages; Delivering Key Messages (7-9)

-Our Plan in Summary; goals, key components, implementations, recommendations pertaining to: Education and Communication; Residential; Industrial, Commercial, Institutional; Transportation (9-13)

-Role of Ribbon Committee in Implementing the Action Plan (14-15)

Appendix 1: Education and Communication Plan (16-19)

Background; Communicating Climate Change Concerns; Raising Awareness; Actions to Increase Awareness; Actions to Promote Implementation; Supportive Actions; Specific Actions; How Will We Measure Progress

Appendix 2: Residential Sub Committee Action Plan (20-28)

-Overall Objectives; Targets; Technical Background Information; Selection and Ranking of Projects; Top Seven Initial Recommend Projects; Implementation Strategy

Appendix 3: Industrial, Commercial, Institutional (29-48)

-Introduction (29-30)

- Recommended Actions (Priority Listing) (31-47)

1-Database (31-32)

2-GRC Database (32)

3-Educate ICI Sector, including Real Estate (33-34)

4- Economic Incentives (34-35)

5-Amendment to Municipal Assessor’s Manual (35-36)

6-Business Leaders (36)

7-Bundling Smaller Businesses for ESCo Project (37)

8-Amendments to Reassessments (37-38)

9-District Heating (38-39)

10-Support for Green Buildings (39-40)

11-Multi-Level Government Communication (40)

12-Bring Stakeholders into GRC Loop (40-41)

13-Identify Manufacturers of Green Equipment (42-41)

14-Energy Efficiency Preferences When Tendering (42-43)

15-Green Merchant Program (43-44)

16-Tenant Education Program (44)

17-Assemble Energy Efficient Demo Programs (44-45)

18-EnviroTip Program (45-46)

19-Green Operations Seminar (46-47)

20-Collective Agreements (47)

-Other Action Items (47-48)

Appendix 4: Transportation Sub Committee Action Plan (49-62):

-Introduction (49)

-Recommendations (50-62)

Objective #1 - Reduce Commuter Traffic to High Traffic Density Areas (50)

Objective #2 – Discourage Single Occupancy Use of Commuter Vehicles by Reducing Availability or Increasing Cost of Long-Term Parking (53)

Objective #3 – Improve Traffic Efficiency (55)

Objective #4 – Vehicle Efficiency (59)

Objective #5 – Generate Money to Fund Climate Change Initiatives in the City of

Regina – (60)

Language: English