Municipal Green Fleet Management Plan

The City of Abbotsford will complete a Municipal Green Fleet Management Plan to align the Engineering Fleet department with the City’s overall goal to reduce GHG emissions by 20% by the year 2025, and 40% by 2040, as outlined in the City’s Official Community Plan produced in 2016. The Fraser Valley is a growing region, and at the heart of the region is the City of Abbotsford with approximately half of the region’s population. With an estimated 140,000 residents in 2015 and the largest city by area in all of British Columbia, Abbotsford is characterized by both urban and rural qualities. The feasibility study will seek to demonstrate a 20% reduction in GHG emissions for its fleet, and a path towards the 2040 City of Abbotsford goal of 40% reduction in GHG Emissions from the 2007 baseline of 3,258 tonnes of GHG Emissions. The City Fleet consisting of approximately 600 vehicles (which includes passenger cars, police cars, pickup trucks, vans, SUVs, dump trucks, plows, loaders, graders, refuse trucks, cranes, backhoes, forklifts, generators, airport support vehicles, fire engines, fire department vehicles and specialty airport fire equipment), produces an estimated 55% of total GHG emissions for the City of Abbotsford or approximately 3198 tons of GHGs. The transportation sector is the largest source of emissions for the City as a whole and is, therefore, the greatest opportunity for the City to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Abbotsford is already making progress on reducing greenhouse gas emissions by reducing vehicle idling times, rightsizing the fleet, vehicle maintenance measures, efficiency standards in procurement, alternative fuels adoption, and adopting alternate fuel vehicles on a pilot basis. In order to obtain the goal of 20% reduction of greenhouse gases by 2025 with increasing population in the City of Abbotsford, the largest sources of vehicle emissions must be identified, the feasibility of the measures for reducing emissions evaluated in relation to the whole fleet use of fuel and emissions generation, and the measures ranked by the feasibility study in a consultative process with the City of Abbotsford Fleet Services department. The study will explore two possible paths toward the GHG reduction goal:1) Electric and hybrid electric vehicle adoption by 20% of the light duty vehicles (including police and other cars in the fleet) has a potential yield of 10% estimated greenhouse gas emissions reduction for the Abbotsford Municipal Fleet. 2) Adoption of Compressed Natural Gas fuel for the large trucks and refuse trucks in the Public Works Yard (40% of the diesel fuel replaced by natural gas) has a potential yield of 16% estimated greenhouse gas emissions reduction for the Abbotsford Municipal Fleet.