BC’s Climate Plan · 2016-09-22 · Global Momentum UN Paris Agreement:

www.communityenergy.bc.ca

COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE WEBINAR

BC’s Climate Planwhat it means for communities

Dale LittlejohnCommunity Energy Association

2016 09 22

http://www.communityenergy.bc.ca/


Agenda

• Before We Begin…

• Context

• About the Plan

• What’s In

• What’s Not In…Yet

• What Next



Community Energy Association Purpose

• CEA is a charitable non-profit society

• CEA is the trusted independent advisor to local governments

• We are helping local governments close the implementation gap

Accelerate Climate Action withPeople and Projects

Awareness & Recognition

• Workshops & Presentations

• Research & Publications

• Collaboration

• Climate & Energy Action Awards

Projects

• Planning

• Implementation

• Technology Acceleration



Community Energy Association Members 2015



Community of Practice

• Help communities collaborate

• Share best practices & challenges

• Small & mid-sized BC communities



Disclaimer

Dale’s opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of sponsors, CEA members, the province or anyone else in the known universe



Other Views, Multiple Perspectives, Some Theatrics



Before 2008 2008 2009-2015 1995 Provincial

Ministries (Env, Comm, Energy) and UBCM formed Energy Aware Committee (now Community Energy Association)

SolarBC established in partnership with federal government

2005 BC Bioenergy Strategy

2007 Public Sector Energy Conservation Agreements (PSECA)

2007 Climate Action Secretariat established

2007 Energy Plan

Communities

2008 Local Government (Green Communities) Statutes Amendment Act (Bill 27)

2008 Local Government Climate Action Charter

2008 Climate Action Revenue Incentive program

2008 Remote Communities Implementation Program

Funding

2008 $25 million Innovative Clean Energy (ICE) Fund

2008 $25 million Bioenergy Network

2008 $94.5 million endowment to create the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions

GHG Reduction

2008 BC Climate Action Plan

2008 Carbon tax

2008 Greenhouse Gas Reductions Targets Act & Carbon Neutral Provincial Operations

2008 Greenhouse Gas Reduction (Cap and Trade) Act

2008 Greenhouse Gas Reduction (renewable fand low carbon fuel requirements) act

2008 Greenhouse Gas Reduction (Emissions Standards) Statutes Amendment Act

Miscellaneous

2008 BC Energy Efficient Buildings Strategy: More Action, Less Energy

2008 BC Green Building Code

2008 Pacific Carbon Trust and partnerships with other jurisdictions

2008 Utilities Commission Amendment Act

2009 Community Energy and Emissions Inventory (CEEI) Program

2009 LiveSmart BC: Energy Efficiency Incentive Program

2010 Clean Energy Act

2011 Signed agreements on limiting carbon emissions from government operations and promoting awareness of the impacts of sea level rise on coastal areas

2011 Clean Energy Vehicle Program

2011 Clean Energy Act Amendments for Pay-as-You-Save retrofit financing

2011 Solar Hot Water Ready Regulation

2012 Green Energy as a Rural Economic Development Tool Project

2012 Greenhouse Gas Reduction (Clean Energy) Regulation

2012 Clean Energy Vehicle Program

Ongoing: ICES and climate relevant initiatives like District Energy Systems and Integrated Resource Recovery are rewarded in infrastructure and related grants (Infrastructure Planning Grants)

Community Energy Leadership grant


www.communityenergy.bc.ca 9

Over half of BC communities have a CEEP and over 75% of BC’s population lives in these communities.



Global Momentum

UN Paris Agreement: <2 °C

China wind power UP 60%, coal DOWN more than 4%

Canada Minister of Environment and Climate Change. “pan-Canadian” climate plan. Green Infrastructure $$.

Ontario Cap & Trade, advanced energy efficiency requirements in building code

Manitoba Province carbon neutral by 2080 and “All natural gas expansion evaluated against green heating options including value of carbon reduction.” and Renewable Heat Standard

Alberta Carbon Tax, New Building Code with Energy Efficiency



Context of Municipal GHGs



What is it?

Q: The Climate Leadership Plan is

A. The result of a process that started over a year ago that involved an immense amount of effort from highly dedicated provincial staff as well as Climate Leadership Team and other stakeholders

B. An initial negotiating position with the federal government and other provinces

C. A high level document that hints at many more announcements

D. Setting up for the May 2017 election

E. A ‘step’ on the road to a final CLP

F. A magic mirror that you can see what you want to in

G. All of the above



Where are we at now?

• Federal-Provincial process • ‘very active’

• Federal government openly disappointed with initial BC plan

• 2017 Election • Already in election season with ads running

• Anything announced between now and June 2017 is at best tentative and dependant on budgeting once a new government is sworn in, even if it is the same government

• Implementation • Legislation, policy, budget allocation and program roll-outs or collaboration discussions

are required to implement the CLP direction

• Part way through a long process

• Up to a year or more until everything is finalized, implemented and local governments are engaging with specific programs or grants.



Word counts

• Local Governments10

• Hydro 15

• Fortis 11

• Natural Gas 61

• LNG 11

• Biomass 1

• Transit 26

• Cost 19



What is in – top 3

• Building Code• Accelerating increased energy requirements in the BC Building Code by taking

incremental steps to make buildings ready to be net zero by 2032;

• Developing energy efficiency requirements for new buildings that go beyond those in the BC Building Code, called Stretch Codes, that interested local governments could implement in their communities; and

• Creating innovation opportunities and financial incentives for advanced, energy-efficient buildings, including an increase in funding for design and innovation

• Refresh of Climate Action Charter: The goal is to establish a plan for community action that takes advantage of provincial and federal actions, to maintain momentum at the community level through policies, programs and regulations that will:

• Focus growth near major transit corridors for large urban communities;

• Increase the use of decision support tools that provide the information needed to create more resilient green infrastructure; and

• Strengthen the ability of communities to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

• FortisBC "to expand their incentives by at least 100 per cent"



What Is In…Transportation

FortisBC incentives to convert fleets to natural gas

Action: call FortisBC to inquire, note this may take some time to roll through the system and be something that you can sign up forhttps://www.fortisbc.com/NaturalGas/ Business/NaturalGasVehicles/Howwecanhelp/ Incentives/Pages/default.aspx

Electric Vehicle purchase incentives and charging infrastructure

Action: watch for future announcements on actual funding levels sometime between now and May and watch the website www.gov.bc.ca/cleanenergyvehicleprogram and Fraser Basin Council for more details

Electric Vehicle policies, particularly to allow EV charging in strata's and further supporting local governments in requiring EV charging in new development.

Action: watch for future announcements



What’s in…Buildings

FortisBC "to expand their incentives by at least 100 per cent"

Action: call FortisBC to let them know your community is interested and your local government can be a strategic partner. Action: yes, you guessed, wait and watch for another announcement sometime before May on the details of what this will look like.

BC Hydro "to expand the mandate of its DSM programs to include investments that increase efficiency and reduce GHG emissions."

Action: look out for further announcements and program roll-outs

Equipment standards for increased efficiency in boilers, gas fireplaces, water heating and other equipment.

Action: continue to monitor ongoing equipment standards, and incorporate this into business as usual projections for community emissions



What’s In – Biomass and Waste

• Biomass• Forest Carbon Initiative

• Action: watch as this is rolled out / announced, there may be potential to align with local biomass district energy or other uses of waste fibre)

• Waste: 90% organics diversion target

• Action: watch for further details on what it means for your community



PSO Collaboration

• Mandating the creation of 10-year emissions reduction and adaptation plans for provincial public sector operations

• Stay close to your health care and education colleagues in your community so that their plans and community energy plans can be aligned. Local governments may be useful partners in the planning.



What is Out

• The plan does NOT include several elements that many local governments have requested in the past including:

• Data• There is no mention of CEEI (community energy and emissions inventory) or providing

it to local governments in a timely manner.

• There is no mention of improving data quality in CEEI in the transportation sector. Requiring ICBC to collect odometer data at time of renewal would resolve this issue.

• Capacity• While it is great to roll out new programs, there is limited capacity in many small

communities to absorb these programs and take advantage of them. There is no commitment to supporting capacity in small communities.



• Transportation• There are new, yet to be announced, incentives for EV's and infrastructure but no Zero

Emission Vehicle Mandate as there is in California to increase the diversity and availability of EV's.

• Buildings • No explicit Livesmart2 language, but can be inferred…if you want to

• Overall• No clear path to previously established targets, particularly if the hoped-for LNG plants

come onstream.

• The plan appears to step back from the level of ambition in previous plans.

• No specific $ commitments so it is difficult to ascertain the usefulness of some of the actions.



What does it mean

• At one milestone on a long road

• Now there is something to discuss and debate

• Lots of pieces ‘still in play’, so don’t stop now

• Plan, platform, post-May adjustments



At the UBCM Conference…

The following resolutions may be related to climate action:

• B9 Priority for Construction of Bicycle Lanes

• B19 Local Improvement Charge for Municipally-financed Green Energy

Technologies

• B23 Carbon Reduction Targets

• B38 BC Hydro Remote Community Electrification Program

• B48 Two Tiered Rate System

• B57 Pedestrian and Cycling Pathways Along Rural Road Rights-of-way

• B58 Climate Change Recommendations

• B77 Empowering Local Governments to Pursue Socially Responsible Investing

• B117 Passenger Rail Service Between North Vancouver and Prince George

• B130 Reinstatement of PST Exemption for Electric Bicycles



At the UBCM Conference…

• Monday• 9:00-12:00 Climate Action: Responsibilities, Opportunities and Solutions Carson Hall,

Salon A, VCC

• Tuesday• BCMCLC Invite-only breakfast

• Wednesday• 4:15-4:30 Presentation of 2016 Climate & Energy Action Awards Oak Bay Room, VCC

• Thursday• 7:30-8:15 Stretch Code: A New Tool for Better Buildings Lecture Theatre, VCC



Specific Opportunities

• Brief locally elected officials as they head to UBCM

• Put hands up for involvement in refreshing Climate Action Charter

• Continue to engage with utilities on their programs

• Inform the finalization of the plan

• Inform the implementation of the plan

• Ask provincial staff about interpretation of wording in plan




Documents

BC’s Climate Plan · 2016-09-22 · Global Momentum UN Paris Agreement: