(Milton Council Chambers, 2019)
Town Council has unanimously approved, in principle, the Town of Milton’s 2021 Climate Change Work Plan.
The plan establishes a focus and goals for the Town to put in place for next year to help fight climate change. During the meeting, the Director of Recreation and Facilities for the Town of Milton, Doug Sampano, says the 2020 Work Plan is still underway, but COVID-19 has impacted its progress very deeply. That’s because the pandemic has caused for facilities to shut down throughout the year, and led to seasonal workers being laid off.
Some focuses for the 2021 Climate Change Work Plan include:
- Creating a GHG emissions inventory and setting an emissions target;
- Advocating for forestry / tree canopy health;
- Build upon renewable energy sources where opportunities are available;
- Implement climate change lens application to all work plans, capital works, operational activities and events;
- Building upon the Green Innovation Plan, sustainable planning policies will be reviewed, enhanced and updated where applicable;
- and, Continue working with community groups and external partners (i.e.: Sustainable Milton, Halton Environmental Network).
Milton’s Town Councillor for Ward 2, John Challinor, says he’s a big fan of the latest plan.
He also says that while the main focus for the 2021 Work Plan is the GHG emissions inventory and setting an emissions target, more work should be done by the Region of Halton to help in this aspect. Councillor Challinor says the Region needs to hire an Environmental Consultant to help understand where Halton’s baseline is as of now. He adds that we don’t know at the moment if a 20% reduction in GHG emissions is enough or not, and that needs to be addressed.
Regional Councillor for Milton’s Ward 1, Colin Best, says that the Region has already done a lot of the work to address those needs.
Best adds that the Town’s Official Plan, which is still being worked on and will layout the next few decades, will need to dovetail what the Region and what the Province are doing to address climate change.
The report from the Town of Milton is here. Table 1 is an update on how the 2020 Work Plan is currently doing, while Table 2 is a breakdown of what the 2021 Work Plan proposes.
It’s important to note that the Town’s 2021 Budget will also play a role in how the 2021 Work Plan is implemented.
