Council’s optimism waning that London can meet its 2030 greenhouse gas target

A progress report on the Climate Emergency Action Plan (CEAP) forced city councillors to confront some tough realities about the likelihood that London can achieve its first set of emissions targets in 2030.

“Essentially we're going to have to drop our emissions by 35 per cent from where we are right now [by] 2030, in five and a half years, which is more than they’ve dropped between 2005 and 2024,” Coun. Skylar Franke told colleagues on the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee.

According to the report, energy use is declining on a per capita basis, however, overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the community reached 3.11 megatonnes in 2023, higher than the 3.07 megatonnes released in 2019 when council declared a climate emergency.

It’s the second consecutive year that community-wide GHG emissions have increased since the pandemic.

While councilors praised the steps taken by Civic Administration to lower emissions from municipal buildings and services, there was finger pointing at the province – and each other.

“We are vastly under resourcing the Climate Emergency Action Plan, under funding it, and under staffing it,” Franke asserted. “I do see this as a significant contribution as to why we are not achieving our targets.”

Coun. Sam Trosow added, “Sometimes I feel as if there is a skepticism on the part of many councillors to engage with climate change issues.”

“We are going to continue to struggle to meet targets because the city itself can only do so much,” said Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis. “But I will say, I think our team (from civic administration) has done an excellent job so far.”

Franke criticized the rising amount of natural gas being used to generate electricity in Ontario which offsets the positive impact of energy conservation, “With the province adding more [natural] gas to the grid, it's becoming harder and harder for us to achieve our targets.”

Sensing that the results would lead to feelings of discouragement, Director of Climate Change, Environment, and Solid Waste Jay Stanford offered a pep talk during his presentation.

“We thrive on good work and hope, and there's a lot of that here in London. That's how we're going to tackle this year after year,” Stanford urged. “Some years will be a little bit bleaker than others, but then we're going to have some great, great years.”

The committee unanimously (12-0) backed a motion asking the mayor to speak with Ontario’s Energy Minister about how the province’s increasing reliance on natural gas to generate electricity is impacting London’s ability to meet its climate targets.

“We know that provincial policy and the way that the energy grid works can impact our ability to meet our targets from a climate change perspective,” Morgan explained after the meeting. “I know the [provincial] government is always asking about how their policy decisions impact municipalities like the City of London.”

As for whether he thinks London can still meet its first greenhouse gas target in 2030, Morgan said that will rely on the actions of individual Londoners.

“I don’t know yet,” he admitted. “That’s why we have a long-term goal, and we’re going to update our targets and actions every five years at least.”

Action on climate change is one of six topics the mayor and a delegation from city hall plan to discuss at next week’s Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) Conference in Ottawa.