Councillor Daniel Fontaine is calling for a voluntary declaration and pledge form each year that tallies their carbon emissions, such as how many plane trips they took or how they travelled to work.
A New Westminster councillor is calling for more transparency among elected officials regarding their personal carbon footprints, as governments continue to grapple with how to address the climate emergency.
The idea would be to create a declaration and pledge form for all members of council outlining their travel habits such as planes, trains, and vehicles for personal and business trips. The councillors would also list their vehicle ownership as either electric, hybrid, or a fossil-fuel based car.
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New Westminster councillor Daniel Fontaine has brought forward the motion to city council to be debated at the Feb. 27 meeting.
He said the carbon emissions declaration form would be voluntary.
The intent is to make sure that politicians who enact climate emergency measures for residents are “walking the walk,” said Fontaine, in an interview Wednesday.
“As I was filling out my financial disclosure form, it just got me thinking ‘why, if we’re under a climate emergency, are we not requesting our civic leaders to also report on our carbon emissions?’ Because while it is important to know what businesses I have shares in, I think it is equally as important to know whether I drive a Hummer or take five or six trips to Europe a year,” he said.
(He doesn’t drive a Hummer, BTW. Fontaine says he gave up his vehicle and either walks to work or rides his electric bike.)
Fontaine said there is no intent in travel shaming politicians who are taking airplane trips overseas to see family or friends but rather to encourage people to think about taking fewer trips.
“If we are declaring a climate emergency, which we have, and then heading off on an African Safari or going to the Galapagos then we need to ask ourselves, is it really an emergency to the point that I’m willing to make a change in my own personal travel habits so that I’m not adding to the kind of greenhouse gas emissions that effectively the planet can no longer cope with?”
He said the world is facing critical challenges when it comes to climate change and it is important for politicians to demonstrate leadership and accountability.
“As civic leaders, we should make sure that the public has confidence that when we’re bringing in these climate emergency measures that we’re not just telling everyone else to do this. We’re doing it ourselves.”
Fontaine says such a move would make New Westminster a leader in openness and transparency regarding public disclosure of the estimated carbon footprint of elected officials, and the declaration form could serve as a template for elected officials in other orders of government.
The voluntary public annual disclosure and pledge form, which would also include up to three new environmental activities staff plan to take, would be completed at the same time as the city’s financial disclosure, according to the motion.
“What I’m recommending for the pledge part are things that individually we can do as city councillors to personally make a commitment to reduce our carbon footprint and and perhaps it is switching over from a fossil fuel vehicle to an electric bike or maybe planting trees or a garden.
Fontaine’s motion follows a report last month from a federally-appointed panel of nine climate change experts on how Canada can reach a net-zero emissions goal.
The Net-Zero Advisory Body‘s report made 25 recommendations, including more transparency from government officials on their own carbon footprint.
The recommendation—that government should direct that all federal agencies, departments and Crown corporations to publicly articulate their role in helping achieve net-zero emissions—is meant for Ottawa but could be picked up by municipal and provincial governments as well.
Other recommendations included creating an easily understood net-zero dashboard, providing Canadians with access to data on GHG emissions and that the government launch quarterly reporting of GHG emissions, similar to the European Union.
Under the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act, the advisory body is required to submit an annual report to Environment and Climate Change Canada on how to achieve net-zero emissions.
Environment and Climate Change Canada is currently reviewing the recommendations and will be publishing a formal response by April 29, in accordance with the timelines established by the Act, said Hannah Boonstra, a spokesperson for the ministry, in an email.
Canada has increased its greenhouse gas emissions reduction target under the Paris Agreement to 40 to 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, and net-zero emissions by 2050.
ticrawford@postmedia.com
