Kelowna News

Kelowna faces a 'huge challenge' if it hopes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 33% by 2020.

According to Policy and Planning Director Signe Bagh, reducing greenhouse gas emissions is something the city has no choice but to try and achieve.

"It has been mandated by the province under the Local Government Act which states the OCP must include targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions," Bagh told City Council Monday.

"It must also include policies and actions to address those targets. It must be in place by May of next year."

Bagh says the process won't be easy.

She says greenhouse gas emissions in the city are higher now than they were just two years ago.

"If we continue on with business as usual, we will be significantly higher than we are today. If we are to achieve our 33% reduction, that would see us going in the opposite direction of where we are heading today."

According to Bagh, Kelowna lags behind only Prince George in the amount of greenhouse gasses emitted per capital in the province.

"On the positive side, there's lots of room for improvement."

She adds that because of population growth, in order to achieve a 33% community reduction, citizens would have to reduce their individual emission levels by 50%.

In order to reach a 33% reduction, Bagh says a number of drastic measures would need to be taken, including:

• 45% of trips taken by transit, bicycle or foot
  
• Half of SUVs, vans and trucks replaced by smaller vehicles
  
• 12 trips per household eliminated per week
  
• 800 old homes weatherized per year
  
• 30,000 trees planted
  
• Widespread recycling etc.

Bagh says the city has to acknowledge that achieving a 33% reduction won't be possible without help.

"Getting to 33% is more than just a local effort. It will require the input and assistance from other senior levels of government."

While the targets are lofty, Councillor Robert Hobson says they are not all gloom and doom.

"We are making a significant investment in transit. It is a huge part of our budget," says Hobson.

"We are the biggest of the small systems in the province and with the bus rapid transit we are putting in we are making a significant investment. I think we can improve our targets through that investment."

Hobson says he also believes the city is on the right track in terms of land use.

"We need to build in sustainable measures to all our new developments. I think there are a whole bunch of things we could be doing in new developments that we are not doing."

Councillor Graeme James says that while the city has been doing some positive things to reduce emissions, there are things out of its control, such as automobile use.

"I sometimes wonder where we are going because the province puts these rules in but they won't come to the table with any money," says James.

"If we really want to combat this issue then the province should anti up and come to the table. I think that is going to be the main problem in the future."