City of Waterloo council approves plan to reach net zero corporate emissions by 2050

The City of Waterloo has a new plan to reach net zero corporate emissions by 2050.

Previously, the plan was to reduce emissions by 50 per cent by 2030 and by 80 per cent by 2050.

Mayor Dorothy McCabe shared why council felt net zero by 2050 is an important goal.

“We heard a lot from our community that sustainability, and being a future-ready community is really critical and really important,” she said. “Partly, this is a recognition of the challenge that faces us, and the need to be really ambitious and meeting the climate crisis.”

Waterloo City staff will present a full report to council in January 2024 to determine the initiatives that can be used to meet the goal.

However, McCabe added that the City will look at all different ways to reduce emissions.

“A lot of it will be within our facilities department because buildings and transportation are the two biggest drivers of carbon emissions,” said McCabe. “So, we are looking at what we can do within existing buildings, to retrofit them,”

She also mentioned transitioning from gas to heat pumps, green roofs, and seeing where using geothermal energy is possible.

The cost of the plan over the long term is unknown, but it is not expected that it will impact the 2024 budget. Additionally, it could lead to savings in some instances.

“[Some initiatives] aren’t things that necessarily will increase costs, but a different way of looking at the way we do our works in some cases differently,” McCabe said. “Whether it’s procurement. There are some things we can change on our building envelopes, mileage reimbursement, things like that, maybe in some ways we’ll save a bit of money here and there.”

McCabe also said while this is an ambitious plan, City staff believe it is a goal that can be achieved.