The County of Halliburton unveiled its plan to combat climate change and reduce emissions within the organization Aug. 12.
Climate change co-ordinator Korey McKay presented to County committee of the whole about a draft Corporate Climate Change Mitigation Plan, detailing how it and its four townships could reduce emissions. The plan sets a 15 per cent target for greenhouse gas emissions reduction from 2018 levels to 2030 for the County, as well as different township targets decided by their respective councils earlier this year.
Coun. Brent Devolin said it is a wonderful report.
“For those that think big things don’t happen in the middle of COVID, I think this report and this milestone is a testament today that there are lots of good things going on, even during these challenging times,” Devolin said.
For the County, the plan seeks to address building energy use by conducting energy audits, retrofitting, and developing a new green building policy. The plan also details ways to make the County fleet greener by purchasing low-emission vehicles, implementing electric vehicle charging stations at municipal parking lots and pushing anti-idling. The plan also calls for climate change considerations in existing plans, policies, and decision-making. A joint municipal working group will be established with representatives from each municipality to provide ongoing input.
Coun. Carol Moffatt asked about whether the working group would only include municipal staff, or if it could possibly include members of the public. McKay said that is a council decision but for this plan, she figured the group would have municipal staff, with public members more likely for a community-based plan to come later.
“Staff who work with our buildings, fleet and waste who can provide me with the knowledge and input,” she said.
The committee accepted the report as information and asked McKay to present it to the townships and update it based on comments received.
“You’ve done a good job. A lot of work on this and we have a lot to think about here, about how we’ll go forward,” Warden Liz Danielsen said.
