Pursuing Carbon Neutrality in Northern British Columbia: An Action Plan for Carbon Neutral Operations

The Village of Burns Lake recognizes the need to take action on climate change and provide an appropriate strategy for emissions reduction within the local context. The need to act is urgent as experts have predicted a warming of more than 5 degrees Celsius in the later part of this century (Field et al., 2007). The associated impacts on municipal infrastructure, agricultural activities and tourism from a more variable climate are impetus to undertake GHG reductions. In 2009 the Village became a signatory to the B.C. Climate Action Charter (CAC) and committed to being carbon neutral in operations by 2012. The Village does not currently have an action plan detailing how it will reduce and offset corporate emissions. This project addresses this gap by providing a comprehensive corporate emissions inventory, assessment of current climate action initiatives, and recommendations for additional steps to be taken in order to progress towards CAC goals. The findings of this project can be easily adapted to a carbon neutral action plan for the Village of Burns Lake. Recognizing that leadership must begin from a sound understanding of existing operations, this report focused on the Village of Burns Lakes’ corporate emissions only; understanding that the findings will have an impact on community-wide emissions in the future. The Village has adopted the Provincial target of reducing community GHG emissions to 33% below 2007 levels by 2020. This target applies to the community emissions profile of Burns Lake and therefore is separate from the CAC commitment to carbon neutrality in corporate operations.Applied Science, Faculty ofCommunity and Regional Planning (SCARP), School ofUnreviewedGraduat