By Cecilia Nasmith/Northumberland 89.7 FM/Today’s Northumberland
With the approval of its Corporate Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Plan, expected at the next county council meeting, Northumberland County is on track for a steep reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
At county council’s Public Works Committee Monday, Environmental Officer Korey McKay gave some history of the issue, starting with county council’s 2019 commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by a level 30% below that of 2005 by 2030 – and 80% below by 2050.
A draft Climate Action Strategy was developed, with both a plan for these reductions and a plan for adaptation and resiliency going forward. In this process, it was ascertained that GHG emissions from county operations come from three sources – 5% from buildings and facilities, 13% from fleet and staff commuting, and 82% from waste management.
It was also ascertained that, by 2023, emissions were already 25% below the 2005 baseline, putting the county solidly on track for its 2030 target. The plan, therefore, charts a path to reach a 65% reduction in corporate emissions by that year, and to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
The plan was made available for public input, with a wide variety of responses – from those who felt the county should do nothing to those who wanted the county to act even more ambitiously.
The final report has an implementation schedule (each initiative with its own department, time line and high-level cost estimate), and it is further recommended that the report be updated after five years.
Suggested initiatives include increasing waste diversion, transitioning to a green fleet, enabling remote work where feasible and utilizing construction and renovation methods that involve net-zero and near-net-zero carbon emissions.
McKay noted that enormous strides can be made in the waste-management sector simply by capturing and flaring what she called “fugitive” methane emissions at the county’s final remaining landfill. In this connection, she said, one recommendation is, within the next three to five years, to shift garbage collection exclusively to clear bags so that they can see what’s being sent to the landfill – “and potentially, in the longer term, not allow household food waste in the landfill, and you can monitor that policy through clear bags.”
Bruce Bellaire, founding member of Blue Dot Northumberland and past board member of Community Power Northumberland, offered the endorsement of both groups for the plan.
“It establishes a culture of hope and leadership for lower-tier municipalities to follow,” Bellaire stated.
He addressed the urgency of action, citing droughts that had a negative impact on food supply, 2017 high-water levels that eroded the Lake Ontario shoreline and damaged many homes, even the fallen trees from a 2022 windstorm that damaged his own home.
The county’s work marks a contrast with the GTA, Bellaire added, where greenhouse gas emissions are actually on the rise.
