Regina's executive committee approves city's plan to become net-zero by 2050, council to vote

Ten days after Regina released its Energy & Sustainability Framework, the city's executive committee met Thursday for a special meeting to discuss the plan.

The committee voted in favour of passing the framework to city council for approval. Council is set to vote on it on Wednesday.

If approved by city council, the framework would function as a guide for future energy, emissions and sustainability related decisions, according to the executive committee's revised special agenda.

The goal to become a net-zero city by 2050 was set unanimously by council in 2018.

"This is an important milestone in our journey to become a renewable city," said Louise Folk, executive director of People & Transformation with the city, in a release on March 14.

"The Energy & Sustainability Framework is ambitious and requires sustained effort from the City of Regina, residents and all sectors of the community."

The proposed plan is expected to help reduce Regina's emissions by 52 per cent and cut energy by 24 per cent by 2030, according to the release.

The city projects that the actions in the framework could result in $12.5 billion in financial returns by 2050, as well as an average net growth of more than 4,000 jobs per year.

The cost is estimated at $11.5 billion, the executive committee's revised special agenda says.

LISTEN | Brittany MacLean, a senior consultant with Sustainability Solutions Group, spoke with host Stefani Langenegger on the Morning Edition:

Seven key areas in the framework

The plan follows the principle of reducing emissions, improving energy consumption, and switching to renewable or low carbon energy sources.

The framework lays out seven significant actions, called "Big Moves," as well as 31 related actions the city would have to take to reach the goal of nearly net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

According to the framework, the city needs to commit to: 

• Retrofitting existing buildings.
• Clean heating.
• Net-zero in new construction.
• Renewable energy generation.
• Low-emissions vehicles.
• Increase active transportation and transit use.
• Clean and re-energize industry.

The plan was developed with consultant Sustainability Solutions Group. 

If approved, the first annual progress report would be considered by city council in the second quarter of 2023.

Delegations in favour of framework

Before approving, the executive committee heard from more than a dozen delegates during Thursday's meeting, and the response was overwhelmingly in favour of the framework.

However, some did mention that they had hoped the framework had come sooner after the 2018 decision to make Regina a net-zero city by 2050.

"We are now in a climate emergency," said Emily Eaton, a University of Regina professor in the faculty of geography and environmental studies. 

"Just this week there were unprecedented levels of warming at the Earth's two poles. We saw atmospheric rivers in B.C. this year. And here in Saskatchewan, we've been suffering from wildfires that are increasingly making summer the season of smoke.

"All of this will get much worse if we don't immediately act at the scale and pace of the crisis unfolding in front of us," Eaton said.

"I was in the room in 2018 when council passed the motion to make Regina a renewable city … Council has done the right thing by returning the focus of the framework to community-wide emissions and bringing our city in line with the efforts that are now well underway in cities across Canada and indeed around the world.

"We don't have a minute more to delay, after the 3½ years that it has taken to get to this spot."

Each delegate came with their own expertise and passion. The energy retrofits of buildings excited Yvette Crane of Regina Energy Transition the most.

"It's such an easy fix and an important fix, so energy retrofit of buildings and dealing with our heating and cooling of our buildings in the city has got to be among the top things."

Others were optimistic about the framework's projected effects on the economy. 

"The framework does a good job of introducing renewables into our economy," said delegate Joe Thomas of Regina. 

Laura Stewart from the Regina Chapter of KAIROS Canada, said that the framework could be more aggressive. 

"The framework takes a sort of a middle path," she said. "The more aggressive approach is the one that would be in line with the science-based fair-share targets. And this approach was chosen because of certain hardships that would be seen to be too much to ask of the community in making those more rapid reductions in emissions." 

Delegates that weren't present at the meeting on Thursday wrote in with their opinions. 

"I am concerned that the framework relies in particular on some unrealistic, front-loaded targets for transit and EV adoption – changes that might result in GHG savings in an Excel spreadsheet but not in the real world," said Christopher Strain in a written submission to the committee.

Another said that time was of the essence. 

"It would have been better to have this begin in 2018 when this motion began this process, but with what is being proposed, it is still doable and we know what needs to be done, starting tomorrow," said Regina resident Jim Elliott in a written submission to the committee.

Current emissions in Regina

To examine the city's current energy use, more than 70 data sets were collected and analyzed. 

Regina's per capita emissions of 23.5 tonnes of CO2e, carbon dioxide equivalent, are 4.7 times more than the global average of five tonnes of CO2e, according to the executive committee's revised special agenda.

One tonne of CO2e is comparable to emissions resulting from someone driving 4,500 kilometres, or about nine round trips from Regina to Saskatoon, the document says. 

The main sources of carbon emissions in 2016 in the city were the industrial sector (34 per cent), transportation (24 per cent), and commercial (17 per cent), according to the Energy & Sustainability Framework.

Overall, the city anticipates the actions in the framework would help decrease emissions by 97 per cent, which according to the city is equivalent to emissions produced by 1.4 million vehicles.