The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report released last fall made a clear case for keeping average global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius if we want to mitigate its most devastating effects. This month, an Environment and Climate Change Canada report stated that Canada’s climate is warming twice as fast as the global average, and that the trend is “effectively irreversible.
One bright spot amidst the dire warnings from scientists is the growing number of municipalities raising their voices and taking action. Several hundred local governments across Canada and around the world have declared climate emergencies, acknowledging that climate change is a crisis that requires emergency mobilization.
This is why I’m excited to see the City of Vancouver following up its climate emergency declaration — passed unanimously by council in January — with a suite of high-impact targets and actions. The City’s Climate Emergency Response report, which will be presented to council for its approval on April 24, calls for six “Big Moves” to guide the city toward carbon neutrality by 2050. It envisions a Vancouver in which, by 2030, zero-emissions vehicles account for 50 per cent of kilometres driven on our roads, and two-thirds of trips are made by active transportation and transit.
Fake news
THERE IS NO EMERGENCY.