Climate Change and the Township of
Langley

Background
The Township of Langley is
commited to:
FCM’s Partners for Climate Protection
Program, and;
Province of BC’s Climate Action
Charter.
Pledge to reduce corporate and
community greenhouse gas
emissions

What Have We Done?
For Township (corporate) operations
Completed an emissions inventory
Implemented an emissions
reduction plan with target
Completed a 2007 status report for
operations – submitted to the FCM

Micro Level Accomplishments
Increasing energy efficiency at
facilities by green upgrades
Increasing fleet efficiency through
participation in the Fraser Basin
Council’s E3 Green Fleet
Reducing corporate waste by
providing employees more
opportunities to recycle at work

What We’re Faced With
Continue reducing corporate
emissions
Inventory and plan to reduce
community emissions
Promote energy efficient
neighbourhoods
Legislation mandating carbon
neutrality by 2012 (Fall 2008)

Main reasons Canadians do
not behave sustainably?
Lack of government leadership 45%
Need to know more about solutions 43%
Poorly designed cities & workplaces 32%
Feel unable to solve problems alone 31%
Costs too much 26%
Not really concerned 5%

Provincial Leadership
Carbon smart communities will be
promoted
Green Building Code soon
New provincial buildings LEED® Gold
Carbon neutral operations by 2010
Local governments will be
mandated to incorporate GHG
targets into OCP’s

Other Municipalities
City of Vancouver has built a
sustainability team of 11 staff
Corporation of Delta is moving
towards an Office of Climate
Protection
City of San Francisco (pop.
800,000) operates a team of 80

Vision for Langley
Sustainability Charter – well in
progress; report to Council
expected in March
Work collaboratively on an energy
plan designed to influence Langley
citizens to be sustainability leaders.
Provide the community with a
robust web-based resource

Vision for Langley

Vision for Langley
Existing resources will be used to
initiate the community GHG plan
in 2008
Additional resources may be needed
to satisfy commitments to the
province

Summary
Measures coming that will impact local
government operations
Municipalities are ramping up
Canadians want government leadership,
knowledge
Uniquely the Township of Langley is in a
position to influence sustainable
behaviours; together with our residents
and businesses we can reduce our
“environmental footprint”