Latest news with #ClimateResiliencyStrategy
Ottawa Citizen
30-07-2025
- Politics
- Ottawa Citizen
City of Ottawa four years behind in releasing greenhouse gas emissions reports
Article content In a July 29 email statement to the Ottawa Citizen, Capital ward Coun. Shawn Menard, who is chair of the city's Environment and Climate Change committee, said he would also like to see the updates of the emissions figures and has been asking city staff to provide them. Article content 'I understand they went back to ensure consistency with how they collected the data and that these should be released soon,' Menard said. 'I have been steadfast in requesting this information.' Article content Coun. Marty Carr, who represents Alta Vista ward, said the reports would be tabled with the committee sometime this fall, ideally before budget discussions. She said the committee would be conducting a 'high-level overview' of advancements on climate change-related projects. Article content Carr, who is also vice-chair of the Environment and Climate Change committee, said the department responsible for climate change-related reports and initiatives had been reorganized after dealing with 'temporary resources.' Article content Article content Nichole Hoover-Bienasz, the city's director of Climate Change and Resiliency, said the delay in releasing updated greenhouse gas inventories since 2021 was due to a 'comprehensive third-party review of the 2020 data to ensure accuracy and alignment with best practices. Article content 'Dillon Consulting Ltd. was engaged to review the methodology and calculate the 2021 and 2022 inventories,' she said in a July 30 email. 'City staff are now finalizing the 2023 and 2024 inventories based on these recommendations.' Article content Hoover-Bienasz also said that Ottawa's community emissions had been trending back to pre-pandemic levels due to 'resumed in-person activities.' The 2020 emissions inventory report found that the COVID-19 pandemic significantly reduced emissions, with a 30-per-cent drop in gasoline use between 2019 and 2020. Article content 'The city continues to advance work to address emissions through the implementation of Climate Change Master Plan, including key priorities such as the Energy Evolution Strategy and Climate Resiliency Strategy,' she said. Article content Article content Carr said these reports would also be crucial for making budget and financial decisions from an 'environmental point of view. Article content 'That'll be really important for us to be able to measure to see what's actually happening because we obviously set a lot of targets that we've not been able to see if we've met at all,' Carr said. 'We know of steps that the city has been in different initiatives that they put forward, but we haven't been able to have staff see that, to be able to analyze the data and come to conclusions.
Ottawa Citizen
07-06-2025
- Health
- Ottawa Citizen
Young and Barnes: A new city bylaw would help prevent heat-related deaths
Article content In the context of rapidly worsening climate change, cities such as Ottawa are on the front lines of the race to protect residents from the threat of summer heatwaves. According to the City of Ottawa's draft Climate Resiliency Strategy, more than one in three residents lack the means to stay cool as temperatures climb during the summer months. They face increased health-related risks. Article content Article content Just as landlords are required by law to ensure indoor temperatures stay above a minimum in the winter, Ottawa — and other Ontario cities — need to urgently pass bylaws setting a maximum indoor temperature. Article content Article content Statistics Canada estimates that around 36 per cent — nearly 150,000 — of Ottawa households are renters. Many have no power to control the temperature in their units. While Ottawa-specific data is scarce, a national survey from ACORN Canada found that 44 per cent of respondents had no access to air conditioning. When other factors are considered, such as old and inefficient building stock, poverty and the rising cost of living, it is no surprise that cooling is out of reach for too many. Article content Heat risks are worsening Article content Let's be clear: When it comes to extreme heat, the risks are here and worsening. The federal government states that 'extreme heat is the leading cause of illness and death from weather-related hazards in Canada.' A recent federal study shows higher-than-average risk of death during stretches of extreme heat in Canada's largest cities over the past 20 years. Risks were particularly high for people aged 65 or older. Article content Article content Extreme heat doesn't just kill; it worsens heart conditions, triggers mental-health crises and heightens the risk of accidents. This reduces quality of life, diminishes economic productivity and adds to the burden on overstretched health systems. Article content Article content We would never accept an apartment without heat in winter. So why do we tolerate deadly indoor heat in the summer? While the reasons behind the detrimental effects of extreme heat are layered and complex, there is a simple logic at its foundation: As a society, we continue to treat cooling as a luxury, rather than the necessity it has become in the face of rapidly accelerating climate change. Article content Effective solutions are within reach. Ontario cities such as Toronto, Mississauga and Kingston are at the forefront of debates around the adoption of maximum indoor temperature bylaws. These enforce a legal upper bound to indoor temperatures, usually around 26 degrees Celsius. While the bylaw debate proceeds, some cities are rolling out stopgap measures, where air conditioning is provided in specific cases.
