An environmental group is encouraging St. Catharines Council to get tough on greenhouse gas emissions.
The group, 50 by 30 Niagara, wants Niagara and its 12 municipalities to reduce carbon emissions by 50 percent by the year 2030.
Members from the group will be at St. Catharines City Hall tonight to support a staff recommendation to increase community-wide greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets to 63.5% by 2030 and net-zero by 2050.
"We have the tools we need in place to meet these commitments, with many federal and provincial programs in place to provide funding for them. We can encourage people to switch out gas appliances for electric; we can design communities around active transportation. If we do these things we will not only reduce our community's emissions, we will also help to make life more affordable, and fair and just for all." 50by30
The recommendation is as follows:
That Council approve the following community wide greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, which aligns with the Cities Race to Zero campaign:
1. That Council commit to a community-wide net zero target by 2050, compared to the 2018 baseline year.
2. That Council commits to a community wide, emission reduction target of 63.5% by 2030, compared to the 2018 baseline year; and That staff submit the target to the Partners for Climate Protection Program to fulfill the community Milestone 2; and That the City Clerk share this report with the local Provincial and Federal Members of Parliament for information.
Tonight's council meeting starts at 6 p.m.