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Schwartz, Elizabeth --- "Local Solutions to a Global Problem? Climate Change Policy-making in Vancouver" [2012] ELECD 719; in Richardson, J. Benjamin (ed), "Local Climate Change Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: Local Climate Change Law

Editor(s): Richardson, J. Benjamin

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9780857937476

Section: Chapter 6

Section Title: Local Solutions to a Global Problem? Climate Change Policy-making in Vancouver

Author(s): Schwartz, Elizabeth

Number of pages: 31

Extract:

6. Local solutions to a global problem?
Climate change policy-making in
Vancouver
Elizabeth Schwartz

1. INTRODUCTION
In the face of limited action at other levels of government, some cities around
the world have adopted various policy and regulatory measures to address
climate change mitigation and adaptation. This chapter seeks to explain the
relatively expansive mitigation and adaptation policies and related measures in
Vancouver, British Columbia (BC) relative to other Canadian cities. A brief
survey of Canadian cities suggests significant variation in the climate change
mitigation policies enacted. Some cities, such as Vancouver and Toronto, have
created a range of initiatives to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) through
densification, building retrofits, changes to the municipal fleet (city-owned
vehicles) and more. Others, such as Calgary and Quebec City, have made
rhetorical claims of commitment to climate change policy but have done little
to translate them into action. Furthermore, there has been little policy action
with regard to adaptation: of Canada's largest cities, only three have developed
plans to guide municipal adaptation.1
This chapter presents a case study of the City of Vancouver.2 As the


1 Canadian cities that have official adaptation plans are Toronto, Ottawa and
Vancouver. City of Toronto `Ahead of the Storm: Preparing Toronto for Climate
Change', available at www.toronto.ca/teo/pdf/ahead_of_the_storm.pdf (accessed 1
December 2011); `City Council Meeting Highlights' (August 2008), available at
http://ottawa.ca/city_hall/mayor_council/council_updates/2008/20080828_en.html
(accessed 1 December 2011); `Greenest City Action Plan' (July ...