Media release

For immediate release

Report card out for the Saanich Climate Plan!

Saanich, BC – The District of Saanich has prepared the first annual Climate Plan Report Card to help track progress towards our renewed Climate Plan targets, objectives and actions in 2020 and also to report on actions within the Saanich Electric Mobility Strategy.  Accountability is key to the Climate Plan success and this new Report Card format provides a summary of progress towards our targets and objectives and the status of actions in each Climate Plan focus area for 2020.

The 2020 Climate Plan – including the progress outlined in the Report Card – is built on decades of climate action within Saanich.  We want to acknowledge the substantial work of previous councils, staff and community members who helped build the foundational policies, previous Climate Plans and community actions we stand on.

“As our residents may know, Saanich has made great progress on many of the actions in the Plan,” said Mayor Fred Haynes. “While we have much more to do, we aim to lead by example as we all work to make the community a better place for ourselves and our children.”

2020 highlights

• The Saanich Climate Plan was awarded the Community Energy Association 2020 Climate & Energy Action Award and the 2020 PIBC Silver Award for Excellence in Policy Planning – City and Urban Areas by the Planning Institute of BC.
• Saanich was one of 88 global cities to score the top ‘A’ grade in 2020 from the CDP for reporting on climate and environmental impacts, completed as part of our commitment to the Global Covenant of Mayors on Climate.
  • The latest community GHG inventory (2018) shows a 14% decrease in emissions from our 2007 baseline and the latest corporate GHG inventory (2020) shows a 19% decrease in emissions from our 2007 baseline. This is good news, but more reductions are needed for us to be on track to meet our targets of a 50% reduction in community emissions by 2030 and corporate emissions by 2025.
  • Saanich launched the Residents’ Climate Action Guidebook to help residents measure their personal greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions using the Carbon Calculator and make a simple 3-point plan to reduce their climate impact and prepare for a changing climate.
  • One Planet Saanich moved to virtual meetings and workshops to help stakeholders continue to implement their One Planet Action Plans during COVID and invite new participants to the program.
  • New buildings are now required to have parking stalls electrified and ready to install EV chargers, and be built to the next steps of the BC Energy Step Code to achieve higher energy efficiency
  • Over 100 households in Saanich received Saanich top-up rebates to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy heating with heat pumps
  • The District joined the Canada-wide Love Food Hate Waste campaign and shared food waste prevention tips with residents
  • Pulling Together volunteers were active on 44 stewardship sites and replanted 25 sites with diverse native plants.

The District launched the Neighbour to Neighbour Project, a central hub for a range of Saanich programs and resources that support community connections, with COVID-safe activities for households.

100% of our municipal fleet cars are now replaced with electric vehicles (EVs).

First year of reporting on the 2020 Climate Plan

COVID-19 has impacted our implementation this year and some of the Climate Plan actions identified for 2020 have not been initiated or are behind schedule. However, despite this, there has been an incredible amount of climate work implemented by the District of Saanich, our partners, and community members with many inspiring examples of adapting climate action to new constraints.

This is our first year of reporting and there are still areas of the plan that need metrics and indicators to be developed, particularly related to climate adaptation and resilience, and data for some of the targets is not available annually.  Staff continue to work with regional partners, the Province, ICBC and our utilities to acquire more frequent and improved data at the local level to assist with reporting on progress.

We need to do this together

Our collective success requires action from everybody, including residents, businesses, community organizations, institutions, neighbouring local governments, and senior levels of government. At saanich.ca/climateplan you can read the full plan, check out a 3 minute introduction, or use the Residents' Climate Action Guidebook to help make your own personal plan. Visit www.saanich.ca/rebates to find out what support there is for your climate-friendly home and transportation upgrades!

Where can you learn more?

The Report Card and additional information is available at saanich.ca/climateplan.

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Media contact:
Kelsie McLeod
Communications Manager
kelsie.mcleod@saanich.ca
250-475-7638