COQUITLAM, BC, April 12, 2024 – Following strong support resulting from community engagement, work is continuing on Coquitlam’s Climate Action Plan.
Council received a project update Monday afternoon on the feedback from recent community engagement, as well as the plan’s proposed priority areas, long-term approaches and strategies. When complete, the Climate Action Plan will be an important part of helping Coquitlam prepare for and respond to climate events and impacts while also providing a flexible, achievable, and balanced approach for the City to reach its 2030 and 2050 climate targets.
Climate Action Plan – What We Heard
Community engagement for the Climate Action Plan took place in fall 2023. This engagement focused on understanding the level of support for the proposed long-term approaches in each priority area, as well as understanding what challenges people face along with what inspires them to take climate action.
Given that marginalized and vulnerable community members are disproportionately impacted by climate change, the team applied an equity-centred approach to hear from more diverse voices.
In total, more than 1,100 people participated through in-person and online sessions, an online public survey, panel discussions, community group meetings, and small group discussions – including with Council Advisory Committees. Engagement with the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm First Nation is ongoing.
Based on all of the feedback, there were key insights that will help create the draft Climate Action Plan:
- Strong support for climate action and the proposed approach to priority areas: Overall there is strong support from participants that the City should take action on and respond to climate change. Each long-term approach received support from participants in the range of 74 to 92%.
- Motivators for climate action: Participants identified that making a positive impact on the environment for future generations was their top motivator. Others included saving money, fear of current / future impacts of climate change, and knowledge that efforts support improved physical, mental and social health.
- Barriers to climate action: Top barriers identified included high costs of goods and services, lack of sufficient public transportation, limited consumer choices for sustainable goods and services, and lack of information or understanding of climate change and how to take action.
- Equity, diversity and inclusion: Youth showed a strong interest in climate action, but reported being worried about current and future impacts of climate change. They were also uncertain about what they have the ability to influence and take action on. Participants also identified language barriers and translation needs in order to understand climate change and the actions the City is taking.
A full What We Heard report and an infographic summarizing the feedback will be available at LetsTalkCoquitlam.ca/ClimatePlan.
Proposed Priority Areas, Long-Term Approaches, Strategies and Actions
Public input was considered along with research, technical analysis, best practices, and other City plans and strategies (such as the Environmental Sustainability Plan) to begin to develop a framework for the Climate Action Plan.
The Plan will focus on five priority areas:
- How we move
- How we build
- How we consume
- How we steward
- How we lead
Within each of these five priority areas, the Climate Action Plan will outline proposed long-term approaches, strategies and actions. This framework allows for each of the priority areas to move forward from a high-level approach to allow for adjustments (such as when technology, regulations and resources change), down to more specific, measurable and immediate actions.
Next Steps
Building on the community engagement feedback and technical work to date, the project team will now refine the long-term approaches and strategies with a lens on affordability, equity and low-carbon resilience, as well as build a suite of flexible, achievable and balanced actions.
A draft Climate Action Plan will be shared later this year, with a plan to have the project complete by the end of 2024.
What is the Climate Action Plan?
Climate change is now an everyday reality. Hotter summers, floods, storms and other events as a result of carbon pollution affect our residents in a multitude of ways. They also impact the City’s ability to provide services and maintain infrastructure.
In 2020, the City adopted the Climate Adaptation Strategic Plan. This long-term strategy reduces the City’s vulnerabilities to climate change impacts by identifying the actions we can take to reduce risks associated with seven climate events.
Building on that, in 2022 the City approved the Environmental Sustainability Plan, which outlined targets for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions of 45% by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050. The Environmental Sustainability Plan also identified the development of a Climate Action Plan as a top 10 priority for advancing this work.
The Climate Action Plan will help advance the City’s actions to mitigate climate pollution through reduction of GHG focusing on four key areas: how we build, how we move, how we consume and how we steward.
Learn more at http://letstalkcoquitlam.ca/ClimatePlan.
Coquitlam’s Commitment to Climate Action
Coquitlam is committed to taking action on climate change by promoting practices that reduce greenhouse gases, conserve energy and improve resilience both for City operations and across the community.
Coquitlam’s Environmental Sustainability Plan lays out a flexible framework to guide decisions and ensure the long-term resiliency and sustainability of the community. The Plan is organized into five themes, each with their own goals and detailed actions: Climate Action, Built Environment, Waste Management, Water Management and Natural Areas, Wildlife and Habitat.
Media contact:
Caresse Selk
Manager, Environment
604-927-3536
cselk@coquitlam.ca
We acknowledge with gratitude and respect that the name Coquitlam was derived from the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ (HUN-kuh-MEE-num) word kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (kwee-KWET-lum) meaning “Red Fish Up the River”. The City is honoured to be located on the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm traditional and ancestral lands, including those parts that were historically shared with the q̓ic̓əy̓ (kat-zee), and other Coast Salish Peoples.