vancouver

Climate change is no longer a threat looming in the distance. Its effects are already very much upon us. Here in Vancouver, we’ve felt these changes personally in the form of deadly heat waves, hazardous ice storms, and toxic, smoke filled air from nearby wildfires. We feel it in other, indirect ways, too, as volatile weather disrupts agriculture across the West Coast and harms the unique ecosystems that make our home here in the Pacific Northwest such a special place to live.

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These current and future disruptions pose significant threats to Vancouver’s public health, safety, local economy, natural environments, and overall quality of life. Scientists around the world agree that these effects will continue—and intensify— unless we take immediate action to drastically cut the greenhouse gasses that drive climate change. With strong support from the community, Vancouver City Council unanimously voted to do just that and adopted one of the most ambitious climate action goals in the country: achieving carbon neutrality by 2040.

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Achieving this audacious goal will be difficult. It will require us to change how we get around, heat and cool our homes, generate power, use resources, and more. But we believe that our children and grandchildren deserve a healthy planet and a liveable, equitable future, full of opportunities just as we’ve enjoyed. Securing that future for them demands that we give this effort nothing less than our best.

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It is inspiring to know that the strategies provided here in this first iteration of Vancouver’s Climate Action Framework can already get us 80% of the way to our goal. This Plan will be a living document, updated regularly with new ideas, policies, and technological innovations that will help us close this gap in the coming years.

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We hope that you will join us in rising to this challenge and building a future for Vancouver that we can all be proud of.