Climate Change and Air Quality

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Blazing sun in a cloudy sky

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 Emergency Declared April 23, 2019

Burlington’s City Council unanimously passed a motion to declare a climate emergency at the April 23, 2019 City Council meeting.

Check out the following:

The Climate Emergency declaration, the media release and Take Action Burlington blog post about the declaration.
Climate Action Update (item 4.2) report to the Committee of the Whole meeting on June 10, 2019
Take Action Burlington - An Update on Our Local Environment (pdf report), story map, and blog posts (overview, land, air, water and waste).
Update to the Corporate Energy and Emissions Management Plan (item 4.10) to Committee of the Whole meeting on July 8, 2019

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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 city's operations are net carbon-neutral by 2040.

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

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 is transitioning to a 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 and in assessing a potential expansion of the Roseland community pilot private tree bylaw to cover the entire city.

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, and the Halton Climate Collective.
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 Change Adaptation

Recognizing that climate change is already occurring and we are experiencing its effects, such as increased frequency of severe weather events, adaptation measures are necessary for city operations and services, including:

Heat and smog response actions: Pools and community centres have extended hours as cooling centres during extreme heat episodes. The city implements measures to reduce emissions from city vehicles and equipment to lessen our impact on poor air quality.

Infrastructure: The city continues to review design and construction standards to consider resiliency in the face of increasing impacts of climate change.

Flooding: The city worked with a consultant on a flood vulnerability, prioritization and mitigation study after the Aug. 4 2014 flood. The report and other flooding related information is available at burlington.ca/flood and halton.ca/water.

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.

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