OTTAWA-GATINEAU
The Climate Change Master Plan is a framework for how Ottawa will mitigate and adapt to climate change over the next three decades. The vision of the Climate Change Master Plan is to take unprecedented, collective action that transitions Ottawa to a clean, renewable and resilient city by 2050. It sets guiding principles, goals, greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets and priority actions for the next five years (2020–2025).
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Worldwide, climate scientists agree that fast rising global temperatures have created a climate crisis. In 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C, which provides scientific evidence for the need to limit global warming to 1.5ºC. The IPCC states that this is possible but “would require rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society.” To align with the IPCC, Ottawa has committed to new short-, mid- and long-term targets to reduce community emissions by 100 per cent by 2050 and corporate emissions by 100 per cent by 2040.
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As identified by the IPCC, significant action and investment is required in the next 10 years to avoid catastrophic impacts. The next five years are critical to putting Ottawa on the path to meet GHG emission targets and prepare for future climate conditions. The Climate Change Master Plan identifies a total of eight priority actions for the next five years (2020 – 2025) that can be embedded into City business.
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1) Implement Energy Evolution: Ottawa’s Community Energy Transition Strategy.
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2) Undertake a climate vulnerability assessment and develop a Climate Resiliency Strategy.
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3) Apply a climate lens to the new Official Plan and its supporting documents.
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4) Apply a climate lens to asset management and capital projects.
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5) Explore the feasibility of setting corporate carbon budgets, including piloting them in a small portion of the organization.
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6) Explore options for carbon sequestration methods and the role of green infrastructure.
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7) Encourage private action through education, direct and indirect incentives, municipal support, and advocacy for support of individuals and private organizations by senior levels of government.
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8) Develop a governance framework to build corporate and community capacity, align priorities, and share accountability in tackling climate change.
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Staff will provide an annual status update on the Climate Change Master Plan, including the results of the annual GHG inventories and the five-year priorities. A full review and update of the Climate Change Master Plan, including the guiding principles, goals, GHG emission reduction targets and priority actions, will be completed in five years (2025).