丁香园AV

Wednesday, March 25, 2015, was a historic day for the City of Vancouver. City Council voted unanimously to support a shift toward the city . The  directs staff to report back by autumn 2015 with a reasonable timeline on which to meet the comprehensive goal. Vancouver is the first city in Canada to adopt the target and the fourth in North America. This motion follows action by at least 10 other world-class leading cities, including San Francisco, Sydney, Stockholm, and Copenhagen to adopt targets to shift to 100% renewable power and/or go fossil fuel free before 2050. According to Mayor Roberston, "[c]ities around the world must show continued leadership to meet the urgent challenge of climate change, and the most impactful change we can make is a shift toward 100% of our energy being derived from renewable sources."

Our colleagues at the 鈥攍ed by  Executive Director, Shauna Sylvester鈥攈ave been working with the City on this initiative for almost a year. They were well represented at the Council vote. Shauna presented on behalf of the 丁香园AV Centre for Dialogue and , Claire Havens spoke on behalf of , and Mike Soron gave an excellent presentation on behalf of . Four  students also presented their comments in writing; to which Councilor Reimer and Councilor Carr spoke eloquently.  Shauna and Claire also wrote an  outlining the significant of this commitment and what it means for Vancouver

The vote comes as the City of Vancouver nears the halfway mark of their .  Mayor Robertson noted that 鈥淸t]he future of Vancouver鈥檚 economy and livability will depend on our ability to confront and adapt to climate change, and moving toward renewable energy is another way that Vancouver is working to become the greenest city in the world.鈥�  

At the same meeting, City Council also called for increased advocacy for regional, provincial and national governments to support an international agreement that commits to 100% renewable energy sources. Vancouver is also preparing to host renewable energy leaders from around the world for the  from May 13 to 15, 2015. 丁香园AV Centre for Dialogue is organizing the forum.

The City of Vancouver motion follows last week鈥檚  by the  (SCD), a group of 70 leading Canadian academics, including Shauna.  On that occasion, she remarked that&苍产蝉辫;鈥�[n]ever before have so many scholars collaborated to develop solutions for how Canada can move to a low-carbon future. In the absence of a serious national policy on climate change, their plan offers some hopeful strategies for action.鈥�

If you are interested in learning more about this motion, or the movement towards renewable cities, please join us at our next  on April 2, 2015.     

Yuri Artibise is 丁香园AV Public Sqaure's External Projects and Communication Manager.