Le français viendra sous peu.
Hey gang. I know things have been a little (ok, insanely) hectic lately, and all any of us want is to enjoy an early October beach day, pop a couple of Tylenol (before it’s illegal) and drown out the constant stress headache that’s caused by news about the planet dying. I so want that for us. And maybe if it wasn’t thirty degrees in October, or we weren’t causing unintended fish boils off the coast of Western Australia, then we could sit back for another year or two and pretend we like the smell of smoke in the air, actually – it reminds us of camping. The fact is that we’re already seeing the impact of climate change. “Unprecedented” events like wildfires, extreme heatwaves, and floods seem to have become a lot more precedented lately.
In 2016, The Paris Agreement outlined a target limit of a 1.5°C temperature increase over the pre-industrial global average temperature to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Spoiler alert: we’re not doing too hot in staying below this limit. Or I guess you could say we *are* doing too hot. Dangerously hot. The global average temperature between 2014–2023 was around 1.2°C above the pre-industrial average and 2024 was the warmest year on record with temperatures reaching a 1.55°C increase.
Here in Ottawa, City Council approved the implementation of the Climate Change Master Plan, or CCMP, in 2020 in order to do our part to help prevent global temperatures from surpassing the 1.5°C threshold. The CCMP provides a framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change. In addition to committing to tracking emissions in Ottawa through annual Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories, the CCMP also set out eight priorities for the five-year period from 2020–2025.
Ottawa community emissions by sector; the GHG target trajectories shown represent linear pathways to meet the targets. They are illustrative benchmarks and not predictions or commitments. Actual sectoral reductions may vary in pace and pattern. Every one million tones of CO₂e is equivalent to 233,255 gas-powered passenger vehicles driven for one year.
On September 16th, City Council’s Environment and Climate Change Committee met and received both a long overdue Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory, and a CCMP progress update for the first time since 2023.
Buckle in. I’m about to take you on the ride of your life: an overview of each of the CCMP priorities and their progress updates according to the September 16th report.
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An action plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Ottawa by reducing the demand for energy, phasing out fossil fuels, and increasing the use of renewable resources. |
Main activities were in the land use, buildings, transportation, waste and renewable gas, and electricity sectors. Highlights include contracts for Battery Energy Storage Systems, which can allow energy to be stored for future use; various retrofitting projects in municipal buildings; the approval of the Transportation Master Plan and the Green Fleet strategy; the approval of a new Solid Waste Master Plan; and the advancement of a Distributed Energy Resource Framework for tech like solar panels, battery storage, and electric vehicles. |
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A guide to prepare Ottawa for the anticipated impacts of climate change, including extreme heat and extreme weather events. |
Main activities included drafting the Climate Resiliency Strategy; approving the Infrastructure Master Plan to ensure Ottawa’s water resource systems are responsive to climate risks; conducting a Climate Change Health and Vulnerability Assessment around health risks posed by climate change; and some early actions taken like implementing flood response plans at drinking water plants and back-up generators at critical City facilities. |
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The Official Plan outlines policies, objectives, and goals governing land use and development in Ottawa. It is required by law to be updated every five years but may be updated more frequently through Omnibus Reports to ensure that it is up to date and responsive to community needs. |
Main activities included incorporating a climate lens to the Infrastructure Master Plan, the Solid Waste Master Plan, and the Transportation Master Plan; the release of a 2023 progress update to the Official Plan Monitoring report; and the introduction of an Energy Management Program Strategic Plan to address community climate change preparedness. |
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This involves managing existing new infrastructure in the city. Think buildings and roads, as well as drinking water services, greenspace and forest services, solid waste services, and transit – to name a few. |
Main activities included incorporating the identification of climate risks and methods of climate adaptation and mitigation into Asset Management Plans in 2024 and 2025; approving the Long Range Financial Plan VI – Water, Wastewater and Stormwater (Rate) Supported Programs in 2025; and allocating $1.1 billion in the budgets from 2023–2025 for GHG reduction programs, energy conservation measures, and climate resiliency projects. |
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Essentially, this would mean setting limits, or budgets, for carbon emissions in Ottawa. The city could “spend” on emissions within that budget, and restrict those we simply can’t afford - just like a household budget. |
Main activity (singular) included applying a climate lens to the annual budget process. AKA no corporate carbon budgets yet. |
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To put it simply, carbon sequestration is when carbon emissions are captured from the atmosphere and stored in the natural environment (so, forests, wetlands, etc). This can help offset carbon emissions caused by activities like burning fossil fuels. We need more of these “carbon sinks” (again, think forests and wetlands) to accomplish this. |
Main activities included partnering with Habitat-Nature to map the City’s street and park trees; a five-year update to Ottawa’s tree canopy; and working with Conservation Authorities to conduct updated wetland mapping. |
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This includes providing climate education, clear communication around goals and progress, incentives like electric vehicle purchase programs, and municipal support to advocacy groups and projects. |
Main activities included approval of the Rain Ready Ottawa program to provide rebates to residents for managing harmful rainwater runoff on their property; delivery of the Better Homes Ottawa Loan Program which offers low-interest loans to cover home energy improvements to residents, resulting in the reduction of approximately 360 tonnes of GHG emissions annually (not so impressive when you consider that this is only 0.005% of the total annual emissions for Ottawa in 2024, which was over 6 million tonnes); the renewal of Residential Protective Plumbing and Compassionate Grants programs to support households in building flood resiliency; and the application of external funding to reduce emissions and build climate resiliency. |
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Basically, this means developing a foundation to guide how climate action is carried out by the City, including through drafting strategies like Energy Evolution and the Climate Resiliency Strategy. This foundation can also link key actors (for example, like the Federal Government, the National Capital Commission, the City of Gatineau, and Hydro Ottawa) to help coordinate efforts and provide structure for future climate action. |
Main activities included the approval of the 2023–2026 City Strategic Plan, which contains objectives around reducing emissions, growing and preserving the tree canopy, increasing climate resiliency, and improving infrastructure; an audit of the CCMP in 2024 to ensure the City has the right plans in place to support its targets outlined; as well as the establishment of various committees, groups, and departments to monitor and track these plans. |
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What is it? |
What’s in the Progress Update? |
Whew. Okay I know that’s a lot of information, and if you’re anything like me, you skimmed the first few lines of the table and scrolled down for a TL;DR. Essentially, it’s a lot of plans. Drafting of plans, approving of plans, monitoring of plans – plans on plans on plans. It’s giving the first week of every January of my life so far when I buy a sparkly new agenda that says something like, “new year, new me,” on the front, fill out about two weeks’ worth of appointments and reminders and then immediately stop using it for the rest of the year.
What does this actually mean? Aside from me never wanting to type out the word “plan,” again, it feels a little underwhelming. Sure, the City may have approved a lot of you-know-whats, but how do they translate into action? The progress update gave an overview of plans that incorporate climate change, but doesn't have a lot of substantive information regarding what impact those plans have. So, for example, as an average citizen of Ottawa, what does it actually mean to me that the Transportation Master Plan was approved? Does that mean we will reduce emissions by x amount; does it mean we will stop rising temperatures by a set year, etc? What I would be looking for from Council would be an update that says something like, “Approved the Transportation Master Plan, which will work towards ensuring emissions reductions targets are reached by 2040, etc.”
Unfortunately, the actual CCMP progress update doesn’t exactly live up to its name in terms of painting an accurate and clear picture of what has been done to mitigate climate change and how we’re stacking up against targets. If we’re missing targets, the City needs to be up front about it so that we can start taking drastic action now, instead of waiting for another opportunity to say, “new year, new me,” down the line.
The last time we had a CCMP progress update was in 2023, and, even at that time, it was called out for not identifying key performance indicators for many of the strategies it outlined. However, perhaps the most telling difference between the 2023 progress update and this most recent one is the formatting. The 2023 update very clearly indicated which of the CCMP priorities were on track and which were not, even though this meant being transparent about five out of eight priorities being off track. The most recent update seems reluctant to deliver explicit metrics for key strategies and actions taken. Why does the City feel the need to be less transparent in 2025?
We’ve had pretty inconsistent access to information, despite the CCMP committing to annual GHG emissions inventories and progress updates. According to this most recent update, a public-facing dashboard will be launched in 2025 as an educational tool, although considering it’s already October, that’s going to be a tight turnaround. Additionally, the CCMP was originally set out for 2020–2025. Seriously, is no one else panicking about 2025 already being 75% over?
According to the progress update, a refresh is planned for 2027, and until then the CCMP audit response identified three core priorities to guide city operations in light of the CCMP: climate adaptation and resiliency; climate mitigation; and enhancing community partnerships. Beyond that, we haven’t received any concrete information around what to expect from the refresh, when it will be released, and whether the public will have the opportunity to share their input through a consultation process.
Here's the thing: planning is great. Influencing tangible, effective change takes planning. And the fact that the city is incorporating climate change into so many plans is great. But we also need to start acting with a greater sense of urgency around how we’re actually doing when it comes to climate action.
Making plans and setting targets just isn’t enough anymore. Despite the 1.5°C temperature increase target set out in the Paris Agreement, a continuation of current policies is likely to lead to a rise of 3.1°C unless G20 nations like Canada step up and start making some drastic changes.
Real talk: we don’t get unlimited chances to get this right. It’s hard to face the reality of climate change. It’s a lot easier to pretend it’s a hoax or a “con job”, but its effects are becoming impossible to ignore. We need to start being realistic about our “progress” (and if there hasn’t been any progress, be realistic about that, too) and hold our politicians accountable to providing us with the right information to take the right action – consistently.
Karolina Galuszka is an Ecology Ottawa intern, a fourth year political science student at Carleton University, and a former high school Eco Team member
