Take Action Burlington

The City of Burlington has received an A grade in our second year of climate reporting through the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), an improvement from last year’s B grade. Burlington is one of 13 municipalities in Canada and 122 municipalities around the world to get an A grade, out of over 1,000 cities, states and regions who reported this year.

To score an A, among other actions, a local government must:

• Disclose publicly
• Complete a community-wide emissions inventory
• Publish a climate action plan
• Complete a climate risk and vulnerability assessment
• Publish a climate adaptation plan to demonstrate how it will tackle climate hazards

The City submitted progress updates on the implementation of its climate related plans, including the community-based Climate Action Plan, the Corporate Energy and Emissions Management Plan (for City operations) and the recently completed Climate Resilient Burlington: A Plan for Adapting to Warmer, Wetter and Wilder Weather.

According to CDP, A List municipalities are demonstrating climate leadership through collective action, just as national governments have been asked to at COP27 and taking twice as many mitigation and adaptation measures as non-A List local governments.

Reporting through the CDP platform has many advantages:

• Ensuring the City’s continued commitment to climate action;
• Tracking and publicly reporting on progress for achieving major milestones on climate action as directed through the climate emergency declaration; and
• Helping us meet the reporting requirements for the Global Covenant of Mayors (GCoM), the largest global alliance for city climate leadership across the globe.

Did you know?

• Burlington City Council declared a Climate Emergency in 2019 and directed staff to apply a climate lens to operations, plans and strategies, including the budget. A ‘climate implications’ section was also added to staff reports to City Council.
  
• In 2019, Burlington City Council approved the Corporate Energy and Emissions Management Plan to provide a pathway for City operations to become net carbon neutral by 2040. Some updates were highlighted in an August 2022 blog post.
  
• In 2020, Burlington City Council approved the Climate Action Plan and set a target to become a net carbon neutral community by 2050. Staff reported on a number of actions related to the Climate Action Plan in 2022 including:
  
  • The Electric Mobility Strategy in collaboration with BurlingtonGreen. The City and Burlington Hydro also hosted Plug ‘n Drive’s Mobile EV Education Trailer (MEET) in April and May 2022 offering free electric vehicle test drives.
    
  • A final report on the Home Energy Efficiency Retrofit Project in collaboration with the Centre for Climate Change Management at Mohawk College.
    
  • A best practices and opportunities report to support the adoption of renewable energy in Burlington in collaboration with graduate students from the Engineering Public Policy, W. Booth School of Engineering Practice and Technology.
    
  • Ongoing work to develop Burlington’s Integrated Mobility Plan.
    
• In 2021, staff presented the Climate Projections Report to City Council illustrating how the community can expect to be impacted by a changing climate under different scenarios.
  
• In 2022, staff presented both the draft and the final Climate Resilient Burlington: A Plan for Adapting to Warmer, Wetter and Wilder Weather which was approved by City Council in July.

About the Climate Disclosure Project

CDP is a global non-profit that runs the world’s environmental disclosure system for companies, cities, states and regions. Founded in 2000 and working with more than 680 investors with over $130 trillion in assets, CDP pioneered using capital markets and corporate procurement to motivate companies to disclose their environmental impacts, and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, safeguard water resources and protect forests.     

Nearly 20,000 organizations around the world disclosed data through CDP in 2022, including more than 18,700 companies worth 50% of global market capitalization, and over 1,100 cities, states and regions. CDP is a founding member of the Science Based Targets initiative, We Mean Business Coalition, The Investor Agenda and the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative.

For more information on the City’s climate change efforts, visit burlington.ca/environment.