“In order to get a platinum plan, we needed an innovative community planning consultant.”

“The beauty of this plan, and perhaps its unique contribution to the field, is that even those who are not committed to mitigating climate change can support the plan for solid economic reasons.”

“How will addressing energy and emissions benefit residents?”

We used a variety of in-person and online engagement tools with over 400 people participating. With our greenhouse gas model, we considered the social cost of carbon to affect decision making, the first municipality to use the ‘MAC’ – the marginal abatement curve – that allows us to make land use and policy decisions based on the emissions savings and monetary costs/savings of any action.

We estimated that under the plan each North Cowichan household would save $4,000 a year based on transportation and energy savings by 2050, more green jobs, a strengthened local economy whilst reducing energy use and emissions production. This plan won the Community Energy Association’s Community Planning and Development Award in 2013.