May 2022

The City’s infrastructure plays a key role in how we get around, enjoy public spaces, adapt to climate change, and access water and other core services. The City has released its draft 2023-2026 Capital Plan, which outlines the City’s strategy for investing $3.4 billion of capital investments into infrastructure and amenities, and planning future investments in these areas. 

Accelerating climate action while ensuring our infrastructure is resilient to climate impacts requires significant investment, and reducing our carbon pollution is more important than ever. Extreme weather events that can damage infrastructure are happening more frequently, demonstrating the urgent need to consider climate change in our infrastructure planning. 

The Draft Capital Plan currently has the potential to dedicate $350 million of capital investment towards advancing the Climate Emergency Action Plan (CEAP) and the Climate Adaptation Strategy (CAS), and approximately $270 million more to deliver other climate mitigation and adaptation benefits. If approved, this would represent a funding increase from the previous capital plan, and would be an important contribution to the financial investment needed to successfully implement the actions identified in CEAP and CAS.

YOUR TURN

The City is seeking your feedback on the draft plan and how funding is being allocated. This is an important opportunity to tell us what you think about climate as a priority. Learn more about the plan and share your priorities for capital investments over the next four years by completing a short survey before May 22. 

SUPPORTING

CLIMATE EMERGENCY, CLIMATE ADAPTATION

Pump up your tires, flex your breaks, and crank your bicycle chain because Go by Bike Week, HUB Cycling‘s annual celebration of all things cycling, is back from May 30 to June 5. The week-long event celebrates cycling as a healthy and climate-friendly activity, and encourages participants to ride their bicycles to every day destinations like work, school, stores, or leisure activities.

Cycling isn’t just fun, it’s also good for the planet. Nearly 40% of Vancouver’s carbon pollution comes from burning gasoline and diesel in our vehicles. Choosing to change how we move, by using active transportation to get around the city, can help us meet our Climate Emergency Action Plan goal to reduce carbon pollution in Vancouver by 50% by 2030.

YOUR TURN

Registration is now open, and free for all participants. Sign up as part of a team, or register solo and encourage your colleagues, friends and family to join, too. 

Log your cycling trips between May 30 and June 5 for a chance to win great prizes. Visit Celebration Stations around the city for on-site cycling resources, snacks, bike maintenance, and more.

Stay connected by following @WalkBikeRoll and @WeAreHUB and share your stories using the hashtag #GobyBikeWeek. 

SUPPORTING: CLIMATE EMERGENCY

Want to have a positive impact on the environment while getting to know your neighbours? OneEarth’s new Lighter Living Action Pack for Neighbourhoods in BC can help you take action for the well-being of the planet and your community. 

The guide includes fun and inspiring actions you can take on your own, with a few others, or with your whole neighbourhood. Each of the seven Action Packs includes a unique approach to shrinking your ecological and carbon footprint. Will you hold a neighbourhood-wide garage sale? Or plan to share food, tools or toys? You can take on a specific theme like food, housing, or mobility – or tackle several at once through the Lighter Living Super Challenge.

Taking action to address the climate crisis isn’t just about lowering emissions, it’s also about making our city more healthy, equitable, connected and resilient, and residents have an important part to play. Finding ways to take climate action that are creative and community-oriented is a key part of this process.

YOUR TURN

Make a difference where you live. Download OneEarth’s guide to learn more about the seven Action Packs, explore creative ideas that communities across B.C. have already implemented, and start planning your own neighbourhood action.

SUPPORTING: CLIMATE EMERGENCY

This summer, the City of Vancouver is offering free air sealing upgrades to 25 homeowners. We want to better understand the energy savings and carbon pollution reduction potential that activities like insulation, sealing up holes and penetrations and in-depth spray technology can have for home retrofits in Vancouver.

This no-cost program will provide eligible homeowners with a contractor’s assessment of where air leakage is occurring in their home, and the installation of air sealing measures such as aerosol spray, spray foam, caulking and taping. 

Beyond energy savings, air sealing can have other benefits like improving your indoor air quality (by reducing the entry of pollutants like wildfire smoke and vehicle exhaust), reducing entry points for pests (such as insects and rodents) and preventing excess water vapour from entering your home (which can cause mold and rot). 

Nearly 60% of carbon pollution in Vancouver comes from burning natural gas, a fossil fuel, for space and water heating in our buildings. Making your home more energy efficient will shrink your carbon footprint if your home is heated with natural gas.

YOUR TURN

Applications are open for the free program until June 30. Eligible participants can receive air sealing retrofits valued at approximately $2500-$3000 per home. Learn more about the program, assess your eligibility and apply here. 

SUPPORTING: CLIMATE EMERGENCY