Here’s how you can be involved in shaping Hamilton’s climate emergency response
Published January 18, 2021 at 12:30 pm
The City of Hamilton is asking residents to weigh in on the city’s environmental future in a new online engagement initiative.
Starting this week Hamiltonians are being asked to review the city’s Community Energy and Emissions Plan (CEEP) on its website and to provide feedback and ask questions.
“The CEEP includes every aspect of city-wide energy use and GHG emissions, from homes to transportation to industry to waste,” a city press release issued Monday (Jan. 18) said.
“The feedback gathered from the engagement survey and virtual information meeting will inform the creation of a draft plan that will be shared in the spring of 2021.”
Residents will also have the opportunity to engage in the process of developing a plan during a virtual (or by phone) meeting to be held later this month.
In 2019, when the City of Hamilton declared a climate emergency a Corporate Climate Change Task Force was established to explore what actions the city can take and coordinate municipal work plans to respond.
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According to the press release, the CEEP is a critical part of the City’s climate change emergency response in that it identifies a path for how the community can reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Hamilton is among several Canadian cities to have committed to this goal. Other cities include Guelph, Toronto and Montreal, to name a few.
“Science tells us that to avoid the catastrophic effects of a warming climate, we must transition to a net-zero economy by 2050,” says the government of Canada’s website.
In 2020, the City of Hamilton reportedly invested more than $200 million towards reducing the city’s carbon footprint.
Some of this money went towards transit, new high-performance buildings/energy efficiency, municipal building energy retrofits, park development, and tree planting, according to the release.
The Virtual Information Meeting, which can be accessed online or by phone, will be held on Thursday, January 28, 2021 from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. where staff will provide an overview presentation of the CEEP and answer questions.
For more information on Hamilton’s CEEP, or to provide feedback, visit the City’s website.
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