Article content

The City of Richmond has joined Vancouver in a global movement of cities declaring a climate emergency.

While the declaration is symbolic, Richmond councillors also asked staff to create aggressive new targets for greenhouse gas emission limits and a comprehensive plan to achieve them.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Richmond joins hundreds of cities declaring a 'climate emergency' Back to video

“In Richmond, we are living in a climate emergency that requires direct action to have our city staff and citizens work to support climate strategies that make us consistent using policies and our day-to-day behaviours,” said Coun. Michael Wolfe.

Richmond has successfully reduced community-wide GHG emissions by an estimated 12 per cent between 2007 and 2015, led by a steep reduction in residential natural gas consumption, according to a staff report.

Richmond has already implemented a Community Energy and Emissions Plan with “beyond code” energy efficiency standards for new buildings.

Light vehicle gasoline use accounts for 42 per cent of Richmond’s GHG emissions, but implementation of the provincial government’s CleanBC plan is likely to reduce emissions over time.