The City of Brantford announced it has achieved all five milestones of the Partners for Climate Protection (PCP) Milestone Framework by demonstrating that its environmental and sustainability initiatives will help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the city on Wednesday, May 8, 2024.
The PCP Network identifies and celebrates work that cities are undertaking to reduce their carbon footprints and promote environmental sustainability in two streams, corporately and as a community. Out of the 500-plus municipalities across Canada who are part of the network, Brantford is now among 75 municipalities to achieve all five milestones for both the Corporate and Community stream and has been recognized for the leadership the Corporation is taking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“We are thrilled to have the City of Brantford recognized for achieving all five milestones and addressing climate change across the corporation and the community,” said Kevin Davis, Mayor for the City of Brantford. “I encourage residents to continue to implement small changes at home and join us in our goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.”
The City has been recognized across Ontario for its leadership in environmental sustainability. On April 23, 2024, staff were invited to speak at the annual Good Roads Conference, an Ontario-wide conference showcasing leaders in the province in the public works and municipal sector. Staff presented alongside the City of Guelph and demonstrated the strides the City of Brantford has made since declaring a Climate Emergency and the commitment City Council has made to being net-zero by 2050.
Since 2018, the City has made strides on its environmental initiatives both corporately and as a community, including:
· Retrofitting streetlights to LED, replacing fleet vehicles with electric, and making buildings more energy efficient
· Implementing the green bin program in November 2023 to help reduce waste and emissions at the landfill
· Completing the Active Transportation Master Plan in 2023 and making improvements to the transit network which will help to reduce emissions from vehicles
· Launching the Climate Action at Home webpage on the City’s website and the Sustainable Business Support Office in partnership with the Brantford-Brant Chamber of Commerce
· Planting additional trees and doing free tree giveaways in the community to offset GHGs produced
To continue reducing emissions across Brantford, the City will continue to the transition to electric vehicles, implement energy conservation measures in buildings, investigate renewable energy technologies, look for opportunities to help homeowners and businesses complete energy retrofits, promote active transportation, and increase waste diversion.
