The City of Terrace has released a Climate Action Plan (CAP), which Council adopted at the December 11, 2023, Council meeting. Developed in collaboration with Pinna Sustainability consultants and the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (PCIC), the document identifies more than 30 specific goals and actions across six key areas critical to transforming the City into a resilient, sustainable, and low-carbon organization.
The City works to responsibly advance climate action by leveraging external funding opportunities, including the provincial Local Government Climate Action Program (LGCAP). The City of Terrace is eligible to receive $121,080 in annual funding from the LGCAP to support the implementation of local climate action to help BC reach legislated climate targets and achieve provincial climate goals outlined in the CleanBC Roadmap to 2030 and the Climate Preparedness and Adaptation Strategy. The City of Terrace CAP was funded entirely by LGCAP funding as well as a 2020 budget allocation of $30,000 for project kick-off.
“The City of Terrace first envisioned a climate action plan more than a decade ago. The Terrace 2050 Sustainability Strategy, which was adopted in 2009, first established this as a Council direction. It’s exciting to have a completed document we can refer to and use to guide us through implementation. There are some lofty goals in this plan, along with interim targets to keep us on track, and I look forward to seeing how the various municipal departments and the public will collaborate to reach our targets together,” said City of Terrace Mayor Sean Bujtas.
Originally approved by Council in 2020, the project was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Work began again in 2022 with the hiring of a Sustainability Intern and the project consultants. In fall 2022, staff partnered with Pinna and PCIC to produce a Climate Projections Report. The report summarized local climate projections data that described the changes to local precipitation and temperature expected to occur in the coming decades. Through winter and spring 2022–2023, a public consultation survey provided input on local climate impacts and community values, which were used to help understand community concerns, define priority actions, and generate ideas for future climate work. Pinna helped complete additional risk and vulnerability assessments and action planning through staff workshops completed in mid-2023.
At the December 11, 2023, Council meeting, staff also recommended updating the City’s corporate emissions targets to include interim 2030 and 2040 targets. The recommended targets were the same ones considered in the Climate Action Plan's net zero-scenario, the province's CleanBC climate action plan, and the province's legislated targets: a 40% reduction in emissions by 2030 and a 60% reduction by 2040. Staff recommended adoption of these interim targets to create further alignment between the City's emissions reduction goals and those of the province, as well as to strengthen the City's ability to track emissions reduction performance. These recommendations were adopted by Council and will be included in an upcoming Official Community Plan update scheduled for 2024.