Vancouver's Climate and Equity Group - March 28

An equitable plan

Climate action can provide significant opportunities to advance equity, through new employment opportunities, improved affordability, and improved health. Vancouver is striving to respond to the climate crisis with ambitious carbon reduction policies and the equitable implementation of those policies.

What does a more equitable Vancouver look like if we are successful with the Climate Emergency Action Plan over the coming decades? Collectively, our actions should:

Make low-cost sustainable transportation options easy, safe, and reliable, so that people get to their destination without needing to rely on gas and diesel vehicles and the noise and pollution they produce.
Ensure that everyone has the ability to live and work in zero emissions buildings, and be able to benefit from comfort, quiet, healthy air, and lower energy costs they offer.
Share the costs of reducing our carbon pollution in ways that reflect people’s ability to contribute to that transition.
Create new and varied opportunities for people to participate in a zero-carbon economy, including the support people need to transition to those opportunities.

What's happeningWe’re recruiting members for the Climate & Equity Working Group

Members of the Climate and Equity Working Group will advise City staff on climate-related policies, programs, and engagement efforts from an equity perspective, and help to shape the development of a Climate Justice Charter that will integrate and advance equity in climate policy.
Working Group members will be expected to attend 10 meetings per year, roughly monthly (2-3 hours each), and spend approximately two hours per month outside of meetings on Working Group activity.

We are seeking people with lived experience of systemic inequities and those who work with organizations working in this space with an understanding of any of the following: racial justice, climate justice, experience with equity indicators, and related perspectives.

Staff will be looking for members with ability to provide strategic advice, who have inter-cultural fluency, the ability to work in a team environment, and an ability to network with broad connections.

A variety of experience and types of knowledge are valued and welcome. Compensation for participation at living wage rate is available.

Apply now

Review Terms of Reference (864 KB)

Implementing the plan

We will take a four pronged equity approach while implementing the Climate Emergency Action Plan.
Making it happen

To ensure we meet our target, we'll:
- Minimize burdens for those already struggling
- Higher expectations on those who can afford it
- Identifying and resourcing work needed to go deeper (continuing to work with the climate and equity working group, developing a climate justice charter, and developing equity indicators)
- Accountability via equity milestones
Each Climate Emergency Action Plan related report to Council will assess how the proposed program or policy will impact households earning less than $50,000 per year and how any adverse impacts are being mitigated.

We acknowledge that there is a great deal more to be done on equity within climate policy, and that we have just begun the work. Our equity work on climate policies and programs will be shaped by the forthcoming Climate Justice Charter, the Equity Framework, the Reconciliation Framework, the Healthy City Strategy, Vancouver’s Housing Strategy, and the Women’s Equity Strategy.