VANCOUVER—The districts of North and West Vancouver have joined a growing number of local governments in Canada and around the world in declaring a climate emergency.

Municipalities are on the frontlines of climate change. Not only are they facing mounting costs to adapt to rising sea levels, extreme rainfall events and a heightened threat of wildfires, they are uniquely positioned to help mitigate the crisis through urban planning.

It’s “overwhelming,” said Megan Curren, the councillor who brought forward the motion to declare a climate emergency in the District of North Vancouver.

“Governments at all levels have normalized missing climate targets and I think that signals that it’s OK — and it’s not OK,” she said.

“We’re really feeling the impacts of a climate emergency at a local level,” she said. “The declarations help send a signal to staff, to the community that you’re taking climate action seriously.”

Curren’s motion directs district staff to “incorporate more urgent climate action” into planning and to establish an “annual carbon budget” by no later than January 2020.

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District staff are also working to develop a plan for reducing carbon pollution that could involve reforestation, retrofitting building and rethinking the way people travel.

“Clearly we are in a climate emergency, so the more people who are talking about that and pointing that out the better,” said Andrew Gage, a lawyer with West Coast Environmental Law.

“The big question is ... do they then walk the walk as well as talk the talk,” he said.

Gage said the declarations by both the districts of North and West Vancouver do call for some next steps, which is positive.

How those steps are implemented remains to be seen.

Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart said he’s “really glad” to see neighbouring municipalities declaring climate emergencies, but agreed it “lacks meaning without real action.”

Vancouver’s city council declared its own climate emergency earlier this year and since then has approved “six big moves” that aim to reduce the city’s cabon pollution, he noted. These include efforts to make neighbourhoods more walkable and buildings more energy efficient.

“If every city in the world contained walkable neighbourhoods … we’d be that much closer to reaching our targets,” Stewart said.

Alongside efforts to reduce pollution at a local level, Gage said municipal governments also have an opportunity to put pressure on global players.

“We all need to do our part to reduce our emissions and to deal with the impacts of climate change, that means that the fossil fuel industry which has made billions of dollars in profit also needs to do its part,” he said.

More than 20 B.C. municipalities that have committed to some sort of action aimed at holding fossil fuel companies accountable for their contributions to climate change.

In June, Vancouver’s council voted to ask the province and the Canadian governments to enact laws that confirm fossil fuel companies have a responsibility to pay their fair share of climate costs.

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Around the world local governments have been exploring legal options to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for their role in the climate emergency.

In one example, New York City attempted to sue five oil companies, including Exxon Mobil and Chevron, for their role in climate change. A federal judge threw out the case in 2018. New York state’s attorney general has also filed suit against Exxon Mobil, accusing it of misleading the public and shareholders on climate change.

That kind of pressure has the potential to influence business decisions, Gage said.

“If and when these cases go to court, oil and gas companies are going to be wanting to tell the court, we were acting responsibly, we were doing everything you would want a company to do when it realizes its products were causing harm.”

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