Tuesday, June 26, 2007

SAANICH - Saanich Mayor Frank Leonard announced his intention to make all municipal operations Carbon-Neutral in 2008.

On June 11, Mayor Leonard referred his Carbon Neutral Plan to a Saanich Climate Change Committee to work on details before implementation in 2008.

The plan is proposed to contain two key strategies:

a) Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reductions
Reduce corporate GHG emissions by implementing building, fleet and other operational efficiencies, aiming for a 10% reduction by 2010 and;

b) Establishment of a Municipal Carbon-Neutral Reserve Fund
In order to ensure that carbon offset funds stay within the municipality, a municipal carbon-neutral reserve fund is proposed to be established that would off-set the annual GHG emissions resulting from all municipal (corporate) operations.

The Carbon-Neutral Reserve Fund is proposed to be used only for new GHG-reducing initiatives within Saanich, such as solar hot water, geo-exchange, photo-voltaic systems or other forms of electrical generation, fleet conversion, transportation demand management, building energy retrofits, urban forestry and other operational improvements that reduce GHG emissions.

Principles of the Fund:

Principle #1) Reduction of GHG emissions is the first priority, with the ultimate goal of reducing the carbon footprint to the lowest possible level using currently available technology.

Principle #2) The carbon neutral reserve fund will respect the principle of "additionality" which means that these funds will only be used for GHG-reducing projects that would not normally be undertaken as part of the municipality's capital expenditure plan.

Principle #3) Priority for project funding from the fund would be given to those projects that have the highest and most immediate impact on GHG emissions eg. Replacing fossil fuel use such as natural gas water heating at a municipal pool with solar hot water.

Principle #4) Projects funded by the Carbon Neutral Reserve Fund would be located within the boundaries of the District of Saanich, preferably on municipal or public lands.

Principle #5) Each year, Saanich's GHG inventory would be updated by Saanich or CRD staff to reflect actual GHG emissions for that year.

Principle #6) Subject to the size of Saanich’s remaining carbon footprint, as expressed in Tonnes of GHG (equivalents), a dollar amount equal to the prevailing market value of a Tonne of Carbon will be set aside in the annual financial plan for inclusion in the Carbon-Neutral Reserve Fund.

(The total annual contribution would likely fluctuate based on the prevailing market value of a Tonne of Carbon. The contribution will likely decrease over time, as Saanich is able to reduce its GHG emissions through its reduction efforts.

Saanich Corporate (Municipal Operations) Greenhouse Gas Inventory
(In C02 equivalents--Baseline year-2004)

Fleet-----------------------3174 Tonnes¹
Buildings------------------ 598 Tonnes¹
Buildings (nat. gas)--- 2100 Tonnes²
Street lighting----------- 107 Tonnes¹
Water/sewage---------- 58 Tonnes¹
Total-----------------------6037 Tonnes of CO2 e

¹CRD-GHG and Energy use and Inventory for 2004-Table 3.15
²Saanich municipal gas billing records for 2004 converted to GHGe using conversion factor of 55.3KG/Gigajoule as per table 1.2 of the CRD-GHG and Energy Use inventory for 2004.

Cost of Carbon Off-sets

Assumptions:

1) Carbon price of $15/Tonne (June 2007)
2) Zero reductions in the annual GHG emissions from municipal operations.

Annual Cost:

6037 Tonnes X $15/Tonne = $90,555

For more information contact:

Mayor Frank Leonard
Phone: (250) 475-5510
Email: mayor@saanich.ca

Russ Fuoco, Director of Planning
Phone: (250) 475-5472
Email: fuocor@saanich.ca