OTTAWA - A new report urges Ottawa to partner with cities to control greenhouse gases.
The report by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities says municipalities have direct or indirect control over about 44 per cent of Canada's overall greenhouse gases. That's because municipal governments wield much control over urban and rural development, transportation, economic activity and energy use.
"There is a large, untapped potential to reduce municipal greenhouse-gas emissions and these reductions can be achieved at a low cost compared to other mitigation options," the report says.
The federal government aims to reduce emissions 20 per cent from 2006 levels by 2020.
The report says municipalities could make up 15 to 40 per cent of that federal goal.
To that end, the report outlines several measures municipalities could take, including:
- improving the energy efficiency of buildings, fleets and facilities;
- recycling garbage as well as capturing gas at landfill sites;
- building and retrofitting private buildings;
- reducing the number of vehicles on the road through, for example, user fees.
The report estimates two-thirds of reductions can be made for less than $25 per tonne of carbon that's cut.
The federation says that's still less than the cost of options such as carbon capture and storage, a fledgling technology the Harper government is banking on reach its greenhouse-gas targets.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities released its climate-change report on the second day of a major United Nations conference in Copenhagen.
Delegates from 192 countries are meeting in the Danish capital to find common ground on an international treaty to curb pollution.
"Whatever comes out of Copenhagen, Canadians will want to see their governments taking concrete action on climate change here at home," the federation's Berry Vrbanovic said in a statement.
