The City aims to lead the community by example by developing and implementing innovative policies and programs to reduce the environmental impacts from the City's operations, including reducing energy consumption and GHG emissions.
| Climate Change |
| Climate change has been identified as one of the defining challenges of the 21st century by Natural Resources Canada. Based on scientific evidence, the primary cause of the Earth's changing climate is due to the surge in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activity. All across Canada, municipal governments are taking action to reduce GHG emissions and mitigate their effect on climate change. The implementation of these local GHG emissions reduction plans encourage municipalities to create tangible changes in their local communities, while together tackling a global concern.
In 2019, the City of Port Colborne became one of 64 municipalities across Canada, and one of five municipalities in Niagara, to receive a Climate Change Staff Grant from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities “Municipalities for Climate Innovation Program”. This staff grant funded a Climate Change Coordinator position for 24 months, whose task is to develop and implement a GHG Emissions Reduction Plan to assist City departments in reducing their GHG emissions. See the Municipalities for Climate Innovation Program website for more information. |
| Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Plan |
Recognizing the impacts of climate change and the role that the City can play in decreasing GHG emissions, the City of Port Colborne's Greenhous Gas Emissions Reduction Plan (GGRP) commits to leading by example in its own corporate operations; adopting and demonstrating sustainable, energy conserving, climate change mitigation practices that are communicated and encouraged throughout the community. The City's corporate operation sectors include buildings, fleet, streetlights, and solid waste. The energy and emissions associated with these sectors are tracked in the corporate inventory. The City's GHG emissions inventory is based on operations from 2017, with the total being 1,730 tonnes of eCO2. An overall emissions reduction target of 10% by 2030 has been set, which is based on reductions targets as summarized here:
GHG emissions reduction initiatives
See the City of Port Colborne Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Plan for details on how we hope to achieve our emissions reduction target. |
| Pollinator Corridors |
|
In 2015, Council approved an initiative that was brought forward by a local resident Patty Moss, with the support of the Environmental Advisory Committee, to protect the Monarch Butterfly. This initiative involved changing the timing and reducing how often the rural roadsides are cut. Allowing the vegetation to grow provides natural habitat for the monarchs so that the eggs can grow to adults and increases the number of flowers for all insects This initiative has continued and has expanded to include at least a dozen roads in Port Colborne. Monitoring by Ms. Moss has shown that the monarch butterflies are flourishing along the roadsides. Butterfly signs have been posted along many of these roads and have a QR code to link back to this page so that curious residents and visitors can learn more about this initiative.
Why roadsides?Roadside flowers are resilient species that provides much needed habitat for monarch butterflies and other pollinator insects, like bees. Roadsides are also natural corridors – not only do roads allow vehicles to get from point to point – the roadsides enable insects to travel from one area to another while providing food, water and shelter. Pollinator insects have been in decline and using these areas will help ensure a healthy population in the future.
One of the most important plants that grow on roadsides is Common Milkweed. Monarch butterflies will only lay eggs on the leaves of milkweed plants as milkweed is the only food that monarch caterpillars will eat. Therefore, it is very important that milkweed plant are not cut down before the eggs have been laid, nor before the caterpillars have developed into adults .
How can you help?Let your ditches grow, see what flowers emerge within two years. It is amazing that over 52 types of flowers grow along the roads here in Port Colborne. If you are interested in naturalizing your ditch and if you need more information please contact Patty Moss at pymoss@hotmail.com. You can also consider installing wild bee boxes or simply providing bare soil for ground nesting bees or brush for bumblebees! Various styles of wild bee boxes have been installed along the roadsides to monitor wild bee activity. By installing these boxes, we can monitor and see if wild bees are using the boxes during different periods of the season for their young.
More information on the status of wild bees in Niagara can be found on Brock University's website |
Environmental Initiatives
The Port Colborne Environmental Advisory Committee offers Environmental Initiatives through different rebate programs.
There are a limited number of rebates available each year. Rebates will be issued on a first come, first served basis.
Rebate programs
| Tree planting rebate program |
| Purchase a tree from the approved list of trees compiled from the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority guide to native plants and receive up to a $50. rebate.
See the terms of reference on the tree planting rebate application form for more information.
|
| Low flow toilet rebate program |
| Port Colborne is currently offering rebates to residents of single-family homes who purchase and install a Port Colborne Approved water efficient toilet in their home.
There is a limit of two toilet rebates per residence and the approved toilet must have been purchased after January 1, 2019. See the terms of reference on the low flow toilet rebate program application form for more information.
|
Energy
Under the Electricity Act, 1998 all municipalities must comply with the Broader Public Sector: Energy Reporting and Conservation and Demand Management Plans regulation. This regulation requires the City to prepare an Energy Conservation and Demand Management Plan that is updated every five years, and to compile and submit their energy consumption data annually. For more information see the Broader Public Sector: Energy Reporting and Conservation and Demand Management Plans regulation
Energy Conservation and Demand Management Plan |
|||||||||||||||
|
The City's first Energy Conservation and Demand Management Plan (ECDM Plan) was approved by Council in 2014. Energy conservation efforts from 2014 to 2019 achieved the following:
More details on these projects and others success stories can be found in the new EDCM Plan, which was approved by Council in June 2019. The new ECDM Plan is built upon the successful foundation laid by the City's 2014-2019 ECDM Plan. New for the 2019-2024 Plan, are a set of four quantitative goals with respect to energy management:
Please review the ECDM Plan for more information on targets, initiatives and more.
|
|||||||||||||||
| Annual Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reports | |||||||||||||||
| The City produces an annual Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions report. The report includes energy consumption data (electricity and natural gas) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for all City facilities that are heated and/or cooled. The data from two calendar years previous is used for each annual report (i.e., 2017 data reported in 2019, 2018 data reported in 2020 and so on). The City must submit the report to the Ministry of Energy, Northern Development and Mines.
Reports are available free of charge at the Engineering and Operations Centre, located at 1 Killaly Street West, or by clicking on the report links below:
|
Contact Information
Subscribe to page updates