Guideline on community emissions reduction planning

In addition to public comments received as a result of public consultation posting of the draft Guide, verbal comments and input was received through engagement sessions which took place throughout the posting period.

Comments received indicate support for the Guide as an implementation tool as well as appreciation for acknowledging the role of municipalities in climate action planning. The comments received can be summarized as follows:

• Data acquisition for municipal GHG inventories is a challenge (time and resources) and the province could play a role in streamlining and centralizing data access and GHG emissions inventory process;
• Ensure consistency and alignment between various provincial climate change and energy related programs (Municipal Challenge Fund, Municipal Energy Plan program) and clarify requirements, available funding, priorities and how programs are mutually supportive of local municipal action;
• Include sample municipal Official Plans to highlight innovative practices and proactive policies that are less likely to be challenged, can give municipal planners further justification on need for planning, and provide direction on how to integrate community emissions plans into other land use and infrastructure planning processes;
• Clarify relationship between regional/ upper-tier and local/ lower-tier municipalities in terms of population forecasting and setting per-capita emissions reduction targets;
• More emphasis on other co-benefits of emissions reduction planning (health, social equity); and
• Processes for engagement should be better integrated throughout the six planning stages; need to more clearly identify the range of key players such as utilities, municipally-owed electricity distributors, school boards, and others.

After careful consideration of all verbal and written comments received as a result of public consultation, the following revisions were made to the Guide:

• Additional contextual information on the broader provincial framework relating to climate change and energy planning and how the Guide supports meeting requirements in the framework;
• Clarifications on available climate change and energy planning programs and available funding;
• Editorial revisions to improve readability and to clarify direction provided, including improved cross-references throughout the Guide, removal and repositioning of content, enhanced discussion of co-benefits, and factual corrections to legislative and policy framework;
• Additional context on the importance of data collection and resources available to help with that part of the inventory;
• Clarification of roles and responsibilities of upper-tier and lower-tier municipalities in setting per-capita GHG emissions reduction targets;
• Inclusion of sample municipal Official Plan policies;
• Enhancing references to the engagement process and expanding range of partners involved in community energy and emissions planning; and
• Providing additional tools and resources to support community energy planning and implementation.

Comments regarding the role of the province in streamlining data collection efforts for GHG inventories are outside the scope of this Guide, but being considered further by the ministry.