Renovating the heating and cooling systems that service federal buildings in the Ottawa region will be the key challenge when it comes to the Liberals’ newly announced bid to cut 40 per cent of carbon emissions from federal operations by 2025.
Six heating and cooling plants serving 85 buildings in the National Capital Region are to be modernized, a project expected to cost $1 billion and to cut emissions from current levels by 35 per cent.
The Parliament Buildings, 16 government-owned buildings along Sparks Street and 16 more on Wellington Street will also undergo renovations to upgrade the heating systems.
The National Arts Centre, Library and Archives Canada and buildings at the Tunney’s Pasture campus will also be upgraded. In total, 35 buildings in Centretown will undergo changes.
The initiative is part of a “green government” strategy undertaken by the Liberal government, with a commitment to reduce emissions from 2005 levels by 40 per cent before 2030 – although an expedited plan sets the goal for just nine years from now, in 2025.
The new Centre for Greening Government agency, overseen by the Treasury Board, is being set up to monitor progress .
The federal government’s largest source of emissions are buildings used by Public Service and Procurement Canada, the department responsible for administrative services and purchases, and national defence.
Emissions from those two departments alone contribute more than three-quarters of the carbon footprint.
The government also set a 2025 goal of running all PSPC operations using clean energy.
The Liberals said they also want to trim emissions by shifting the federal fleet to electric and hybrid vehicles and installing charging stations in federal buildings.
The government said it also plans to purchase eco-friendlier products,
and find administrative efficiencies, such as cutting travel and increasing video-conferencing.
The strategy is central to the $2.1 billion the Liberals set in their last budget for repairs, retrofits and greening of government facilities.
The government is also collaborating and sharing information on emissions with the City of Ottawa and the Ottawa Centre EcoDistrict, according to PSPC spokesperson Nicholas Boucher.
Carleton University professor John Stone, a lead author for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said the federal government is setting an example with its plan.
“(It) gives us a good opportunity to put in a lot more infrastructure that will lead to lower levels of greenhouse gas emissions,” he said, “so it’s opportunity we can’t miss.”
Stone added that the federal plan could also put pressure on the City of Ottawa to accelerate its lagging efforts to work to meet promised emissions cuts.
Ottawa’s municipal government set a target of cutting 80 per cent of its carbon emissions below 2012 levels by 2050. Some city councillors saw that as too ambitious and criticized the lack of concrete plans to achieve the goal.
Previously, the city’s target had been a 20-per-cent reduction by 2024.
“When you set a target at 2050, it’s very difficult to know whether it’s going to be sufficient,” Stone said. “The way climate change is accelerating, the actions we’re going to have to take have to be done in a much shorter timeframe.”
Capital Coun. David Chernushenko, who devised the city’s carbon reduction plan for council’s environmental committee, said the plan gives the city more flexibility and a greater range of possible actions.
“How to prioritize its actions will be based on some combination of quick wins, long-term investments and policy changes,” he said. “What matters most is that the direction is clear and that some combination of support is provided in the form of policy changes, fiscal support or regulatory direction.”
He added: “I’m not one to quibble over the specifics as long as we are working in partnership to achieve the much-needed outcome: rapid emissions reductions with strong linked employment creation.”
Chernushenko said he agrees federal commitments are pushing Ottawa to be more aggressive in reducing emissions, but that the senior level of government could do more to support cities with their own plans.
“Federal funding to allow us to make major capital investments is also crucial,” he said. “A municipality’s tax base is too small to undertake many initiatives with that source of funding alone.”
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