Climate Action Plan

Climate change is a global problem with local consequences and solutions.

Recognizing the severity of a changing climate, City Council declared a climate emergency in 2019 and in 2020 approved a Climate Action Plan with a target to become a net carbon zero community by 2050.

View our interactive Climate Action Plan story map to learn about the progress the City of Burlington has made on the actions with the Climate Action Plan.

Climate Action Plan (2020–2025)

The 2020 Climate Action Plan focused on community wide initiatives that that reduced our use of fossil fuels and resulting greenhouse gas emissions and provided a framework to achieve the target of becoming a net carbon neutral community by 2050. The plan was made of seven program areas including:

•  Low Carbon New Buildings

•  Burlington Deep Energy Retrofit Program

•  Renewable Energy

•  Integrated Mobility Plan

•  Electric Mobility and Equipment

•  Waste Reduction

•  Industrial Innovation

Progress reports on the implementation of the seven program areas were provided to City Council each year from 2021 to 2025. A commitment was made to review and update the plan’s actions every five years.

Burlington Climate Plan (2026 – 2031)

In March 2026, Council approved the Burlington Climate Plan – a continuation of the 2020 Climate Action Plan, with updated actions recommended for 2026 to 2031. The Burlington Climate Plan proposes 17 action items grouped by topic into three themes and five subthemes:

• Theme 1: Buildings & Energy
  • Subtheme: Energy Efficient Retrofits
  • Subtheme: Low Carbon New Development
  • Subtheme: Community Energy
• Theme 2: Integrated Mobility
  • Subtheme: Transportation
  • Subtheme: Transit
• Theme 3: Local Economy

The Burlington Climate Plan is a guide to help our community use less carbon-heavy fuels like natural gas and gasoline. This will cut the greenhouse gases that cause climate change. The plan focuses on buildings and transportation because they create most of our local emissions.

The actions in this plan represent the City’s ability through programs, legislative authority and capital investments to work towards the target to be a net carbon neutral community. The City cannot achieve the target without support from other levels of government, community partners, the business community and individual residents.

Staff Reports and Presentations

View our Climate Action Plan project page, which includes key project dates, document libraries, how to get involved and more.