City of Prince George Climate Change Mitigation Plan Update

The City of Prince George (pop. 74,003) will be updating its existing climate change mitigation plan in order to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for both the corporate and community sectors. The City of Prince George joined the Partners for Climate Protection Program (PCP) in 2001 and completed milestone 5 in 2011. However, the current climate mitigation plan’s targets (Corporate target: 10% below 2002 by 2012; Community target: 2% below 2002 by 2012) and action items are out of date and need to be reviewed so that clear steps can be implemented to move forward with reducing emissions. The new plan will include updated corporate and community emissions inventories, collection methodologies and baselines, extensive internal and external stakeholder engagement, the development of new short term and long term reduction targets and actions to help meet those targets both corporately and within the community. The City of Prince George hopes to align with longer term provincial and federal targets (80% reduction by 2050 and reduce GHGs by more than 2% per year.The plan will use the PCP milestone methodology and stakeholder consultation will be an integral part of the planning update. Three major stakeholder groups will be consulted including internal city staff, external industrial, commercial and industrial (ICI) stakeholders and external members of the public. By connecting with a diverse stakeholder group additional social, environmental and economic benefits can be realized. These synergies and co-benefits (i.e. improving air quality through the adoption of more electric vehicles) will become apparent through the collaborative approach to this project. A monitoring process will also be developed as part of this initiative. The City of Prince George has a strong and well-defined vision for a sustainable community in the future and is poised to be leader for GHG reduction initiatives in norther BC. This project will be carried out in parallel with updates to the City’s asset management strategy and climate adaptation plan, as well as a new initiative launched by the City’s economic department to support the development of clean technology markets and expansion in Prince George. The release of BC’s Energy Step Code will also increase momentum for the adoption of electric vehicles, passive house construction activities, and improved community engagement, and will be a guiding document to help shape and support the City’s energy landscape in the future.