Photo: Colin Dacre

The City of Penticton was certified greenhouse gas neutral in 2017 for the second-straight year.

Municipalities are required to work towards provincially-mandated carbon emission targets and a number of offsets have allowed the city’s fleet and buildings to be acknowledged as carbon neutral.

In particular for the 2016 and 2017 reporting year, the city was considered greenhouse gas neutral due to the conservation of the Three Blind Mice area.

“This land had the possibility of being developed in the past, but it has now been dedicated as a park. There is a carbon benefit to this, as trees normally would have been cut down for development but are now saved due to the park status,” said community sustainability co-ordinator, David Kassian.

The city has also installed energy efficient cooling units at Leir House and City Hall, removed invasive species along Ellis Creek and installed five rain gardens along the 100 block of Main Street that reduce the load on the storm water system, while also filtering contaminants from the water.

“Carbon neutrality is a big ominous term that many don’t comprehend, but if we look at the basic premise of reducing emissions and other pollutants into the air it’s an easier concept to understand”, said Penticton Mayor, Andrew Jakubeit. “Hopefully the city can be a leader and inspire others to work on reducing their carbon footprint.”

For 2018 onwards, the city will have to get more creative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It plans on installing four new energy efficient Rooftop Units at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre and plant more than 85 trees in parks and on the 300 block of Main Street.