Reduction of Corporate and Community Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Borough of Saint-Laurent, City of Montreal

The Borough of Saint-Laurent, covering an area of 45 km2 and the eighth most populous borough in the City of Montreal, wants to develop an action plan to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the borough’s corporate and community activities. Among other things, it wants to improve air quality and reduce GHG emissions in its territory by 30% by 2020, practice responsible resource management and improve protection of its biodiversity, natural environments and green spaces. This GHG reduction process is inspired by the municipal council’s integrated vision of environmental management in its territory and will be closely linked to local plans and policies, including the local 2011-2015 sustainable development plan. The process will also take the borough’s environmental management system and ISO 14001 certification into account. Although Montreal already had a corporate inventory compiled in 2010, the borough, by creating its own inventory based on the FCM Partners for Climate Protection program (PCP milestone 1), will be able to determine its own sources of GHG emissions, take appropriate action, and identify the results achieved. This will provide more precise information about GHG reduction levels and its contribution to the Montreal agglomeration, and make it the first administrative entity in the City of Montreal to receive Carbon Care® certification. The proposed procedure and the resulting GHG reduction plans will be integrated and involve all of the borough’s departments. First, the borough will set up a committee composed of permanent members and guests, each representing important aspects of Saint-Laurent’s corporate and community operations. The representatives on the committee will be responsible for educating, informing, surveying and motivating their colleagues in their respective departments. The borough and department managers will be kept abreast of every important step in the process in order to collect employees’ ideas, opinions and concerns. Public consultations will help to determine the main thrusts of the community reduction plan relating to transportation, sustainable neighbourhoods, social development and other community concerns, and will guide implementation and follow-up action. The GHG reduction objectives identified in milestone 3 of the PCP program and the related activities will be incorporated into various borough action plans and policies. A tool for regular monitoring of GHG emissions and reduction activities will be developed to track results and share such information as good practices and areas to improve with the borough’s entire population. (Project description from original funding application)