WHEREAS, beginning in 2012, local governments in British Columbia will be required to purchase carbon offsets in order to achieve carbon neutrality; AND WHEREAS local governments lack funding to achieve carbon neutrality through improvements to local infrastructure: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that UBCM lobby the Province of British Columbia to allow each local government to retain its own carbon offset monies, with the requirement that the monies be placed in a reserve fund for future local carbon-reduction initiatives.
Ministry of Environment - Climate Action Secretariat CAS Local governments should be aware that the first step in achieving carbon neutrality is measurement of an annual corporate GHG inventory, followed by reducing, offsettingbalancing, and reporting. A climate action reserve fund is a creative way of budgeting for emission reduction projects and demonstrates progress towards carbon neutrality; however a reserve fund will not of itself mean a local government has achieved carbon neutrality. Achieving carbon neutrality requires a tonne for tonne reduction as compared to a specific financial investment e.g. 25 a tonne. Putting aside a monetary value based on a communitys remaining emissionstonnes may not result in the actual reductions needed to achieve net-zero emissions. Only measurable GHG reduction projects based on a recognized protocol will do so. BC is a leader in the development of carbon neutral standards including offset regimes. Public sector organizations achieved carbon neutrality for 2010 in June of this year and have set a high standard for BC with regard to carbon neutrality. The Green Communities Committee Carbon Neutral Framework Becoming Carbon Neutral has been informed by this standard and modified to meet the needs of local government - in particular the option of local community investment in GHG reduction initiatives.