Local Climate Change Action Plan (2021-2030)

Climate Crisis

The climate of the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg (MODL) is changing and the need to respond to climate change is urgent. MODL, like all municipalities, is faced with the dual challenge of reducing our use of fossil fuels and associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and proactively adapting our community infrastructure and programs to reduce impacts from severe and changing weather patterns including hotter summers with prolonged heatwaves, drinking water shortage, higher intensity rainfall, increased floods, and new types of pests and diseases.

MODL declared a Climate Emergency

In October 2019, the Municipality declared a climate emergency and committed to act on climate change by joining the Partners for Climate Protection (PCP) program. The PCP program mandates the development of a Local Climate Change Action Plan to identify ways to mitigate our GHG emissions and guide MODL towards a low carbon future. If MODL is to succeed with its Local Climate Change Action Plan, leadership, and support from federal and provincial government, as well as actions from our community members including residents and homeowners, institutions and government organizations, local businesses, and neighboring communities, will be required.

Partners for Climate Protection Program

The Partners for Climate Protection (PCP) program is a network of over 400 Canadian municipalities which have committed to reducing GHG emissions and fight climate change. The program is administered by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) in association with the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) that guide local governments through a 5-milestone framework towards reducing GHG emissions.

The 5-milestones of the PCP framework are as follows:

Status:

Community stream: Milestone 1 complete; Milestones 2 and 3 in progress.

Corporate stream: Milestone 1 and 2 complete; Milestone 3 in progress.

Local Climate Change Action Plan (2021-2030)

MODL is developing a Local Climate Change Action Plan to reduce GHG emissions and prepare the municipality for the impacts of a changing climate. The 10-year Plan is being built around a central vision that MODL will be a low carbon community, with the long-term goal of becoming a sustainable, climate-resilient, and net-zero community. The draft Plan has identified 9 Main Categories and proposed several key action items that will be delivered over the next 10 years. This will be a community plan and we want to hear from residents, farmers, local businesses, community groups and youth on how we can address climate change, and ensure MODL continues to be a great place to live.

Virtual Public Engagement Sessions

The Municipality hosted two virtual public engagement sessions on the Local Climate Change Action Plan. The virtual engagement sessions featured an overview of the project followed by a public Q&A with the project team.

Virtual engagement sessions were hosted via Microsoft Teams on the following dates:

9 February 2022, 11:00am-12:00pm (AST) - Watch the Recording on YouTube

10 February 2022, 7:00pm-8:00pm (AST) - Watch the Recording on YouTube

Did you miss the sessions? We invite you to have your say and share your ideas to help shape municipal decisions on plan's projects, policies and initiatives that are important to you. The feedback received from the public as well as various stakeholders during these virtual engagement sessions will guide the plan development. Contact Abhi Jain at abhi.jain@modl.ca.