Current Situation

The City has adopted an award winning Climate Action Plan with pages and pages of strategies and actions. The Corporation has already taken the strategy’s direction to lower our green house gas emissions related to our fleet, buildings and facilities and managing residential organics. Early wins in replacing a few internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles with electrical vehicles where cost effective, providing electric assist bicycles for staff, reducing the size of new ICE vehicles, and upgrading fuel efficiency on large equipment. Replacing ageing boilers with far more efficient heating system on buildings, pools, arenas and other recreation facilities. Introducing on the spot rental of electric kick scooters into the community.

Future Actions Required

• Reduce GHG emissions from City buildings, vehicles and facilities.
• Encourage households, businesses and community organizations to do the same.
• Upgrade infrastructure to more successfully manage wider fluctuations in weather starting with 43 rd Street Vernon Creek crossing.
• Make sure SMART growth principles and outcomes dominate the revised OCP including soft density increases in the inner bowl of Vernon.
• Dramatically increase the pace of fuel load reduction in our wildland interface areas and encourage Fire Smart practises in the City.
• Enable commercial and institutions to divert their organics.
• With assistance from the provincial and federal governments develop and implement a multi-family residential building retrofit program to lower GHG emissions and mitigate issues related to overheating.