UBCM Recognizes Carbon Neutral Kootenays Project
Wednesday, October 14, 2009

The Regional Districts of Central Kootenay, East Kootenay and Kootenay Boundary, received a Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) Community Excellence Award for the Carbon Neutral Kootenays Project. This project, delivered in partnership with Columbia Basin Trust (CBT), is helping regional districts and local governments reduce their corporate emissions and become carbon neutral by 2012.

The Carbon Neutral Kootenays project is the regional district winner in the Leadership and Innovation category which recognizes environmental excellence and ideas that showcase vision, creativity and teamwork that can be followed by others. The award was presented at the most recent UBCM held during the last week of September in Vancouver.

“We know that work to reduce emissions at this scale, with so many regional and local government partners in a rural context, is unique,” says Kindy Gosal, CBT’s Director, Water and Environment. “It’s great to have the work recognized by the UBCM and to share our experiences with other communities who want to reduce their emissions.”

The project began in February 2009 when Sheltair Group and the Community Energy Association were hired to deliver year-one of the four-year Kootenay Carbon Neutral Action Strategy. The project is building on actions already being taken by local governments in the Columbia Basin. According to a survey done with local governments earlier this year, seventy-five per cent said they were already reducing emissions by taking actions such as improving insulation and retrofitting lighting and heating.
Building on the momentum already taking place, regional districts have been actively working towards learning more about reducing their corporate emissions. Sheltair Group hosted close to 100 local government staff and elected officials at various “Climate Change 101” workshops to increase their awareness of the issues and options to reduce emissions.

Over the next few weeks each local government will receive their energy and emissions inventories and action plans on how to reduce these will follow. Year-one work will be completed in February 2010.

“This regional collaboration with local governments and Columbia Basin Trust will help all of us fulfill our commitments under the BC Climate Action Charter,” says Ramona Mattix, General Manager of Development Services for the Regional District of Central Kootenay.

The consulting team is building templates that will enable up to 29 local governments and five first nations communities to develop their own carbon-neutral strategies. Plus, the consulting team is looking at options for enabling ongoing collaboration and knowledge sharing as the rest of the Kootenay Carbon Neutral Action Strategy is implemented over the next few years.

The Carbon Neutral Kootenays initiative is one of several climate change initiatives supported by CBT. For more information about CBT and its climate change initiatives, visit www.cbt.org/climatchange.

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