Resilient St. John's Climate Plan

On Nov 17, 2021 an update was brought to City Council at Committee of the Whole on the draft Resilient St. John's Community Climate Plan and the second and final stage of public consultation was launched. The draft Plan includes actions to reduce greenhouse gas emission within our community and adaptation actions to address the impacts of highest risk to our community. For clarity, the action plans for adaptation and mitigation are being released separately but were developed through a holistic approach.

The plan document was separated by topic area and can be found here for your review:

Resilient St. John's Climate Action Plan - Mitigation of Greenhouse Gases

Resilient St. John's Climate Action Plan - Adaptation to Impacts from Climate Change

Additional information about the Community Energy and GHG model used can be found (here) and modeling results can be found (here)

Have your say on the Climate Emergency - Resilient St. John’s Community Climate Plan

Public consultation will be ongoing from November 22nd to December 3rd. Review the documents above and have your say by either:

• Participating in the Have Your Say discussion forum
• Attending the Virtual Public Session on December 2nd from 7 to 8:30 pm - signup
• Providing a letter of support if you or your organization would like to show your support for the planned actions. Please submit signed letters of support to efausto@stjohns.ca(External link)(External link)
• Additional sessions will be held for members of the various Citizen Committees of Council

The Plan will be reviewed and brought to City Council for consideration of adoption. Letters of support will be attached to the plan when submitted to City Council for consideration of adoption.

On Wednesday, March 10 the findings of the first round of public engagement to guide a community climate change plan will be tabled at Committee of the Whole. Over 60 impacts to the St. John’s community are identified, 15 of which are the most likely to occur.

The purpose of the engagement was to help identify how climate change impacts St. John’s as a community, what is important to residents, and suggestions related to reducing or mitigating greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs).

What we heard in workshops and public sessions about opportunities to reduce GHGs and energy use include:

• Improving public transit
• Supporting the availability of local food and products
• Retrofitting existing residential buildings to reduce energy
• Supporting electric/hybrid vehicle use

Responses were captured at engagestjohns.ca through an interactive map, quick polls, a ranking tool on criteria and actions, and virtual public sessions. In addition, the City’s Multi-Stakeholder Sustainability Team comprised of representatives of community organizations participated in two workshops to capture initial perceptions and to identify expected structural, ecological and socio-economic impacts for the changing climate.

The Resilient St. John’s Community Climate Plan is expected to be released in late summer 2021 and will identify a 30-year strategy to reduce GHGs while stabilizing energy costs by supporting energy efficiency. It will also provide strategies to further prepare the City to address the challenges and opportunities presented by the impacts from climate change.

The complete ‘What We Heard’ document can be found here.

The City of St. John’s is committed to a city that is sustainable today and for future generations; economically, environmentally and financially. This project is identified in Our City, Our Future under the Sustainability priority with the goal to plan for land use and preserve and enhance the natural and built environment where we live.

2: Which action do you think the community should prioritize to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions?

Learn more about how these Questions work to help the City make better decisions: Technical Paper Link

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