New report shows region making progress towards climate goals
Posted Jun 6, 2024 06:07:08 AM.
Last Updated Jun 6, 2024 11:03:03 AM.
The region sent out a report this week that shows they are making some progress towards their climate targets.
ClimateActionWR presented it to regional council June 4 with new updates, which said that emissions are decreasing slowly in this area.
“While advancements are being made in both community and corporate climate action planning, we need to make major transformations across the community buildings and transportation systems to get back on track,” Tova Davidson, the Executive Director of Sustainable Waterloo Region and the lead for ClimateActionWR, said.
The community has a shared emissions reduction target of 80 per cent by 2050 below 2010 levels.
The report goes over a 12 per cent decrease in Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) in 2022 from 2010. They also noticed a slight four per cent increase in 2022 from 2020 that they said was “primarily driven by the removal of pandemic travel restrictions.”
“ClimateActionWR delegation stated that significant transformations are needed across building and transportation sectors to meet emissions reduction goals.”
The Corporate Climate Action Plan is still being developed by the region and is set to be implemented next year.
A thermal strategy is in the works for the region that could help collect wasted heat energy from buildings and reuse it elsewhere. They said buildings represent 46 per cent of community GHG emissions.
The report shows that after the Corporate Energy Plan was implemented in 2019, it had an impact on the community by saving about $2.2 million in utility costs.
The plan is said to have conserved 11,500MWh of electricity and 1,340,000 m3 of natural gas while also reducing 3,700 tonnes of GHG emissions, which they said is equivalent to about 800 vehicles. They also attained $5.5 million in funding for regional and community projects.
The region is also looking into creating a Long-Term Waste Management Strategic Plan Review and Update that should be completed by 2025.
