Climate Change and Air Quality

flooding

The decisions we make every day, such as how we live and move around, (mitigation) have an impact on emissions that contribute to poor air quality and climate change. The effects of climate change, such as significantly more intense storms and flooding will also impact our everyday lives (adaptation). Initiatives to reduce air emissions can also help reduce the greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change, and vice versa.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stated that human influence on the climate system is clear. The atmospheric concentration of key greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide) is unprecedented in the last 800,000 years, with our fossil fuel driven economies and the increase in population to blame.

Climate Resilient Burlington (CRB): A Plan for Adapting to Our Warmer, Wetter and Wilder Weather

Please visit the CRB project page at getinvolvedburlington.ca/crb to remain up to date on the project.

CRB project launch on Oct. 27, 2021 - event recording

Staff report to City Council:

On March 4, 2021, city staff presented the following information to City Council at the Environment, Infrastructure and Community Services Meeting:

Staff Report (background information on CRB project)
Appendix A - Climate Projections for Burlington Region
Appendix B - Infographics for Burlington Region
Presentation and video
Climate Change Impacts Story Map

Take Action Burlington blog posts related to climate adaptation/resiliency:

Climate Action Plan (mitigation) approved April 20, 2020

A year after declaring a climate emergency, Burlington’s City Council approved the Climate Action Plan, following a process that involved engaging community members and stakeholders. Blog post.

Check out the following:

The Climate Emergency declaration, the media release and Take Action Burlington blog post about the declaration.
Burlington Climate Action Plan approved on April 2020.
- Climate Action Plan update - June 2021 (Report, Appendix A and B)
- Residential deep energy retrofit pilot program - Sept. 2020
- Options for a deep energy retrofit program - July 2020
- Get Involved Burlington Climate Action Plan project webpage
Corporate Energy and Emissions Management Plan (2019-2024).
- Annual updates
  - July 8, 2021 (item 4.1)
  - July 6, 2020 (item 4.3)
- Corporate Energy webpage
Take Action Burlington - An Update on Our Local Environment (pdf report), story map, and blog posts (overview, land, air, water and waste).
Burlington joined the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy and was one of 25 Canadian cities selected to participate in the Showcase Cities pilot program. Blog post.
Take Action Burlington blog post - Use a climate lens for personal decision-making.

Climate Change

Weather is the day-to-day changes in conditions such as temperature and rainfall. Climate change is a long-term shift measured by changes in temperature, precipitation, winds and other indicators. Climate change can involve both changes in average conditions and changes in variability, including changes in extreme conditions.

A balanced amount of greenhouse gases keeps our planet habitable. However, since industrialization, greenhouse gases have steadily increased and are impacting our climate.

City Actions to Reduce Air and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Burlington's Strategic Plan 2015-2040 identified the following commitments:

The city recognizes that climate change is a significant issue and is working with the community and all levels of government towards the goal of the Burlington community being net carbon neutral. The Burlington Climate Action Plan set 2050 as the target.
The city's operations are net carbon-neutral by 2040.

These commitments were further supported in 2018-2022 Burlington's Plan: From Vision to Focus including:

Promoting and working towards a lower carbon community in support of the UN global warming target
Develop Burlington's Climate Action Plan, addressing Burlington's Climate Emergency declaration and focusing on reducing the community's ghg emissions by Dec. 2019
Reduce the GHG emissions from City operations overall by 21% by 2024 and 100% by 2040 demonstrating community leadership.
Complete and ensure the implementation plans are in progress for:
- Corporate Energy and Emissions Management Plan (Final approved July 2019)
- Climate Action Plan (mitigation) by Q4-2019 (Final approved April 2020 with community net carbon neutral goal by 2050)
- Climate Resilient Burlington (project underway)
- Urban Forestry Management Plan update (project to be completed at end of 2023)
- Storm Water Management Plan by Q4-2019 (Final Stormwater Management Design Guidelines approved in June 2020)
- Sustainable Building and Development Guidelines (updated Dec. 2021)
- Corporate Green Fleet Strategy by Q4-2022

City actions include:

Improving the energy efficiency of city facilities through the energy management program and an update to the corporate energy and emissions management plan in 2019.

Working with community stakeholders to implement the 2014 community energy plan, which transitioned to the climate action plan in 2019.
Use of renewable energy at city facilities, including solar (such as a solar wall at Fire Station #8, and leasing of roof space for solar generation at Mainway Arena, Transit and Roads, Parks and Forestry buildings).
Engaging the community in updating Burlington's Urban Forest Management Plan (by end of 2023) and in assessing a potential expansion of the Roseland community pilot private tree bylaw to cover the entire city. The City now has a private tree bylaw.

Adoption of an anti-idling bylaw in 2004 which was strengthened when updated in 2009 (one minute, removal of temperature exemption, enforcement by parking enforcement officers) and amalgamated with the parking bylaw in 2014 to become the Parking and Idling Bylaw.

Support for a sustainable transportation network for transit users, cyclists and pedestrians and working towards creating Burlington's Integrated Transportation Mobility Plan.

Participation in networks such as the Clean Air Council under the Clean Air Partnership, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities/ICLEI's Partners for Climate Protection program, the Bay Area Climate Change Office collaboration between the cities of Hamilton and Burlington, the Centre for Climate Change Management at Mohawk, the Halton Climate Collective, the Global Covenant of Mayors Showcase Cities Pilot, and ICLEI Local Government's for Sustainability's Advancing Adaptation project.
Implementation of a corporate sustainable building policy.
Implementation of a zero waste strategy.
Implementation of a Green Fleet Strategy to improve the sustainability of the city's fleet.

Climate Resilient Burlington: A Plan for Adapting to Our Warmer, Wetter and Wilder Weather

Watch the Oct. 27, 2021 virtual launch of Climate Resilient Burlington (CRB):

Keynote speaker David Phillips, Senior Climatologist, Environment and Climate Change Canada, presented "Weather and Climate: It's Not What Our Grandparents Knew" followed by a Q&A session.

Information about the CRB project was presented.

On March 4, 2021, city staff presented the following information to City Council at the Environment, Infrastructure and Community Services Meeting:

Staff Report
Appendix A - Climate Projections for Burlington Region
Appendix B - Infographics for Burlington Region
Presentation
Climate Change Impacts Story Map

Stay tuned for community engagement opportunities at getinvolvedburlington.ca/crb as work to develop the CRB plan continues.

While the City does not have an official plan for adapting to our changing climate, Climate Resilient Burlington will recognize that adaptation measures are already underway.

Existing programs or information to help you adapt to a warmer, wetter and wilder weather include:

Home flood Protection Program – A national program first piloted in Burlington in 2017 providing a confidential comprehensive inspection of residents’ homes and a user-friendly recommendations report informing residents how to reduce their risk of flooding. The City of Burlington is currently offering a subsidy for a Home Flood Protection Assessment on a first come first served basis for this program.
Burlington Plumbing Reimbursement Program – a program to extend financial assistance to homeowners for flood prevention work covering the cost of a building permit for that work.
Enhanced Basement Flooding Prevention Subsidy Program – a program providing financial support for residents who make the necessary improvements on the private side to prevent storm water from entering the waste water system and to reduce to risk of flooding from sewer backup
Halton Basement Flooding Mitigation Program – a program by Halton Region to ensure wastewater infrastructure is in a state of good repair and help prevent sewer back-ups that can lead to basement flooding

Health information about:

Information about community hazards such as power outage, severe winter storm, severe lightning storm, flood or flash flood, and tornado, and how to prepare for them
- Halton Region
- City of Burlington

Take Action Burlington blog posts related to climate adaptation:

Partners for Climate Protection

Partners for Climate Protection is a program administered by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability to assist local governments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from city operations and community wide. There are five milestones in the program for municipalities to meet, including:

Milestone 1: Create a greenhouse gas emissions inventory and forecast
Milestone 2: Set an emissions reduction target
Milestone 3: Develop a local action plan
Milestone 4: Implement the local action plan or a set of activities
Milestone 5: Monitor progress and report results.

Burlington was recognized in 2017 by the PCP program for meeting all five milestones. A copy of the report can be found here. Although Burlington has completed all five milestones, the city is now working towards making city operations net zero carbon by 2040 and working towards being a net zero carbon community as stated in the Burlington's Strategic Plan 2015-2040 and further supported in 2018-2022 Burlington's Plan: From Vision to Focus.

Smog

Smog is used to describe a mixture of pollutants primarily made up of ground level ozone (O₃) and fine particulate matter (PM_2.5). Other major components include:

Sulphur dioxide (SO₂)
Nitrogen oxides (NOx)
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
Carbon monoxide (CO)
Ammonia (NH₃)

These contaminants are released into the environment when we burn fossil fuels (to run vehicles, buildings and industries), through the evaporation of fuels and oil based paints, and as a result of natural processes. Smog can negatively impact human and ecological health.

Additional Resources and Links