“Our goal is to ensure that our entire program is not dependent on government funding because that tends to come and go depending on what government is in power,” he says.

Last year, Our Energy Guelph presented a 25-point, $3.2-billion plan it said would result in Guelph hitting net zero by 2050. This plan, the group said, would also result in the city bringing in $4.9 billion in savings and revenue over the same time period.

Chapman says this plan would help accomplish eight of those goals.

“But those eight are responsible for almost two thirds of the emissions reductions to be delivered,” he added.

On Monday, Chapman will be asking councillors to direct city staff to start putting together the processes needed to administer the PACE program.

“All we’re really asking the city to do is to act at that billing and collection agent, so we made it really easy for them to give us the green light,” Chapman says.

He added that OEG wants to get moving quickly on this initiative.

“I’m hoping that after council approval, it’ll be no more than three months before we’d be able to launch our first project,” Chapman says, adding the first one or two years of the program would focus on multi-residential buildings.

“Any delay is just stirring up trouble because we still have the same mountain to climb, but we’re just squeezing the mountain, which means it gets higher.”

Dave Guyadeen, an assistant professor at the University of Guelph’s School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, says addressing climate change and emissions at the municipal level requires coordination between the city government and its residents.

“Retrofitting homes, particularly older homes, can be costly and programs that encourage property owners to make their properties more energy efficient will play an important role in addressing the impacts of climate change,” Guyadeen, who in the past has written on how municipalities need to prepare for climate change, says.

“I think anything that gets people thinking about climate change and how they can contribute to tackling the effects of climate change is important.”

Guyadeen says the climate change mission also falls on the municipal government itself, not just its residents.

“An initial step is focusing on making city operations more energy efficient. This includes reducing emissions from city-owned vehicle fleets and making municipal properties more energy efficient,” he says.

“This is something that is, in some ways, low hanging fruit that can be accomplished in the short term given that cities have control over their operations. Cities are usually major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and as such have a key role to play in lowering emissions.”