Climate Change Policies from Saanich’s OCP

The District of Saanich officially adopted its new Official Community Plan (OCP) in July 2008. Within this comprehensive plan, Saanich’s response to Climate Change was set through the following policies:

1. Support the “British Columbia Climate Action Charter” by developing strategies to achieve the following goals: being carbon neutral in respect of municipal operations by 2008; measuring and reporting on Saanich’s operational and community-wide Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions profile; and creating complete, compact, more energy efficient communities.
   
   
2. Support and encourage the Provincial Government initiatives to enact legislation to provide local governments with the necessary tools to better address climate change and energy efficiency issues.
   
   
3. Prepare and implement Saanich’s “Community Climate Change and Energy Action Plan”, now referred to as the CLEAR Plan.
   
   
4. Incorporate climate change, its potential impacts, and mitigation measures when reviewing new development applications and undertaking long-term planning initiatives.
   
   
5. Implement “Saanich’s Carbon Neutral Plan”, which involves: establishing a municipal carbon-neutral reserve fund to offset the annual Greenhouse Gas emissions from all municipal operations; and reducing corporate Greenhouse Gas emissions by implementing building, fleet and other operational efficiencies, aiming for a 10% reduction by 2010.
   
   
6. Engage the community by raising awareness respecting climate change and promote community wide emission reductions and carbon neutral initiatives.

For complete information on the Saanich Official Community Plan please follow the link below.

Saanich Official Community Plan