Township of Langley Council has unanimously passed a motion recognizing the climate crisis and declaring that an emergency exists.
The climate emergency motion, which was brought forward by Councillor Petrina Arnason, was adopted during Council’s July 22 evening meeting.
“For the past two decades, the Township has been a committed environmental leader and has numerous initiatives in place to help protect the environment and our community,” said Mayor Jack Froese. “With this declaration, we plan to accelerate our climate action commitment to ensure we keep working diligently to reduce the harmful emissions that contribute to climate change, now and into the future.”
Township staff are currently developing a Climate Action Strategy that will provide strategic direction, targets, and actions for reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, both corporately and throughout the community. The Strategy will also prepare the community for climate change impacts.
As part of the Climate Action Strategy, staff are reviewing current corporate and community emission reduction targets and actions, and plan to propose an update to align them with regional, provincial, and federal best practices.
Staff will make a presentation to Council this fall on the upcoming Climate Action Strategy that is currently underway in the Township.
The Township, which hosted an Adapting to Climate Change public event in the spring, joins a number of municipalities in Metro Vancouver and throughout BC that have declared climate emergency following the release of the October 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report and the BC Legislature’s and House of Commons’ acknowledgment of the growing urgency for further action.
The IPCC Report highlighted the need to reduce emissions to limit global warming and the consequences it would have on the environment, infrastructure, and people.
To learn more about the Township of Langley’s actions against climate change, visit tol.ca/sustainability.