Official Community Plan

C

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High quality of life for the entire community must be achieved with a shrinking and eventually eliminated carbon footprint by 2050. To understand the influence that policies Courtenay can enact to support a low-carbon pathway, energy and emissions modelling was performed for the OCP. Cities are estimated to be responsible for 70% of global emissions. This means that local governments and their communities everywhere have important roles to play in directly controlling or influencing emissions production. The OCP includes policies that are formulated based on modelling of Courtenay's total community energy use and emissions production over the next 30 years. Emission sources that are included in the modelling were selected using the Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories (GPC Protocol) framework, POLICY FOUNDATION: UNDERSTANDING COURTENAY’S LOW-CARBON APPROACH

which organizes emissions sources by three scopes (Figure C-2). Scopes considered in Courtenay’s emissions inventory and modelling include all of Scopes 1 and 2, as well as some of Scope 3 (emissions resultant from energy generation outside the city boundary). Courtenay’s total community emissions in 2016 were 93,200 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e). The emissions resulted from energy use in buildings, transportation, and infrastructure, as well as solid waste and wastewater decomposition. Transportation accounts for 59% of Courtenay's emissions, and is thus the area in which most change must occur. As explored throughout Part B, land use and urban form play a vital role in reducing transportation-related emissions. They also fall under Scope 1 – meaning that they are within the City boundary – and are within the jurisdiction and influence of City Hall.

Figure C-2 GPC Emissions Scopes as They Relate to Geographic and Inventory Boundaries. Source: Consumption-based inventories of C40 Cities.

PART C Thematic Policies