Kelowna City Council has recently endorsed the Kelowna Community Climate Action Plan. Through extensive consultation with staff, stakeholders, businesses and residents, critical action items for City departments, utility companies, senior government and stakeholders have been identified. These action items comprise a cohesive strategy designed to create a 33% reduction of greenhouse gases by 2020. More information on this plan can been seen on the City's Climate Action webpage.
This initiative is an excellent example of communities addressing what is arguably the world's most pervasive and widespread environmental threat. Across the province, innovative climate change policies and strategies are being designed and implemented at the community/municipal level. The significance of these efforts is that, although we see Canada move away from certain climate change strategies at the federal level such as pulling out of the Kyoto Protocol and closing the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Lab, the community level can continue addressing the climate change issue. To learn more about community-based climate change strategies in BC, follow the developing research of our partner project, Meeting the Climate Change Challenge (MC3).