Partners for Climate Protection

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Partners for Climate Protection Program (PCP)

What is the Partners for Climate Protection (PCP) Program?

The PCP Program is a network of Canadian municipal governments that have committed to reducing greenhouse gases and acting on climate change. PCP is a partnership between the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability.

The PCP program is based on a five-milestone framework:

Completion of a greenhouse gas (GHG) and energy use inventory and forecast for the community and municipal operations
Setting local GHG reduction targets
Development of a Local Action Plan to meet established reduction targets
Implementation of actions identified in an adopted Local Action Plan
Monitoring and measurement of actions and results

What has the City accomplished so far?

The City of Pickering has completed milestones 1, 2, and 3 and is now working on milestone 4, implementing the Municipal Operations and Community Local Action Plans − the City's GHG reduction program. Pickering was the fifth municipality in Ontario to complete milestone 3.

In 2010 the City's progress in reducing energy consumption and GHG emissions, both corporately and on a community-wide basis were presented. The results of this review are presented in the OS-02-10 Report.

What are the local municipal and community greenhouse gas reduction targets?

Municipal Targets

The City has established the following per capita energy consumption target and corresponding per capita GHG emissions target for municipal operations by 2016:

2016 Municipal Per Capita Energy Consumption Target:
0.67 GJ (gigajoules) per resident, a 50% reduction relative to 1995 figures

2016 Municipal Per Capita GHG Emissions:
0.050 t eCO2 (environmental carbon dioxide) per resident, a 22% reduction relative to 1995 figures

The 50% reduction target is the key corporate performance target, because GHG emissions can change significantly depending on the mix of fossil fuels and clean energy sources used to produce electricity across the province as a whole. To meet the 2016 target, the City must further reduce energy consumption and GHG emissions by 2,832 GJ each year and 566 t eCO2 each year. This corresponds to a 3.9% per capita reduction in energy and GHG emissions each year until 2016.

Community Targets

The City established the following community per capita energy consumption target and corresponding per capita greenhouse gas emissions for 2016:

2016 Community Per Capita Energy Consumption Target:
- 78 GJ (gigajoules) per person, a 35% reduction relative to 1995

2016 Community Per Capita GHG Emissions:
- 5.3 t eCO2 (environmental carbon dioxide) per person, a 19% reduction relative to 1995

The 35% reduction in energy consumption is the key community performance measurement. In order to meet this target, Pickering residents and businesses must reduce per-capita energy consumption by 5.3 GJ per year, that is, by 4.5% per year until 2016.

In 2012, the City will focus on the community sectors that require the most attention. This will include developing detailed performance measures and coordinating highimpact initiatives to reduce energy consumption and GHG emissions in the high-priority industrial, commercial, institutional and transportation sectors.

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