Haida Gwaii Climate Action Plan

Client Masset, Port Clements and the Village of Queen Charlotte
Location Haida Gwaii, BC
Timeline 2010 – 2011

Project Overview

SSG created a Climate Action Plan including five elements:

1. Establish the GHG baseline for municipal operations;
2. Identify strategies to achieve carbon neutrality for municipal operations by 2012;
3. Establish baseline data for GHG emissions on a community wide basis;
4. Identify community GHG targets and options to reduce GHG’s by 2020; and
5. Amend OCPs to include appropriate GHG targets and strategies.

Our Role

Develop a climate action plan for three municipalities on Haida Gwaii

Innovations and Achievements

SSG used GHGProof for both community inventory and the business as usual projection to develop measurable and realistic greenhouse gas emissions targets for low and no-growth rural communities. Innovative aspects of our approach included:

Establishing OCP GHG targets that are based on realistic scenarios: the OCP targets were supported with a detailed step-by-step strategy localized to each community and are sensitive to local realities. This approach increases the probability of success in achieving the target.
Seeking and promoting opportunities to enhance the local economy: efforts to address climate change will not ultimately be successful in the absence of community benefits.
The final report was delivered as an interactive website.
SSG also identified unique opportunities including a revolving loan fund and the possibility of carbon offsets given the current prevalent use of diesel electricity generation.