2020 Climate Action Revenue Incentive Program and End of Program Report
Report detailing the final year of the CARIP grant and the transition to a new provincial climate funding model.
TOWN OF VIEW ROYAL
Planning and Development Report
TO: Committee of the Whole DATE: July 8, 2021 FROM: Jeff Chow, MCIP, RPP Senior Planner MEETING DATE: July 13, 2021 FILE NO: 1855-03 Climate Action Revenue Incentive Program 2019
2020 CLIMATE ACTION REVENUE INCENTIVE PROGRAM AND END OF PROGRAM
RECOMMENDATION:
THAT the July 8, 2021 report from the Senior Planner titled “2020 Climate Action Revenue Incentive Program and End of Program” be received for information.
CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER’S COMMENTS: I concur with the recommendations.
DIRECTOR OF FINANCE’S COMMENTS: I concur with the recommendations.
DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT SERVICE’S COMMENTS: I concur with the recommendations.
PURPOSE OF REPORT
- To report on the 2020 Climate Action Revenue Incentive Program requirements
- To provide information on the end of the Climate Action Revenue Incentive Program
BACKGROUND
The Climate Action Revenue Incentive Program (CARIP) is a conditional grant program created in 2010. The grant is equal to one hundred percent of the carbon tax paid by a local government for fuel purchases in a year. To be eligible for the CARIP grant, the local government must:
A. Sign on to the BC Climate Action Charter and by doing so commit to take action and develop strategies to achieve the following three goals:
- Become carbon neutral in their corporate operations by 2012 The Town’s status was “making progress” in 2012 as permitted by the Province. The Town achieved carbon neutral operations in the 2013 reporting and has continued to do so every year since by actively working to minimize greenhouse gas emissions and by purchasing a small amount of carbon offsets.
- Measure and report on their community Green House Gas (GHG emission) profile The Town previously relied on the Community Energy & Emissions Inventory, which was published by the Province for the 2007, 2010 and 2012 years for each municipality. With the demise of the AirCare program 2014, the Province was no longer able to provide reliable estimates for vehicle emissions. The Capital Regional District Climate Action Program proposes to measure municipal GHG on behalf of all the regional municipalities every two years, which will provide a consistent standard, and data is retained in case methodologies change in the future.
- Create complete, compact, energy efficient rural and urban communities The Town continues to work towards this goal through continued implementation of the Official Community Plan and other plans and programs.
B. Report publicly on their plan and progress towards meeting their climate action goals. The Climate Actions Survey is a provincial template to describe actions undertaken by the Town in the previous year and planned for the current year. The Carbon Neutral Progress Survey provides an analysis of net greenhouse gas emissions from municipal (including contracted) operations.
DISCUSSION
- 2020 CARIP reporting requirements
- End of the Climate Action Revenue Incentive Program
- Implications
- Future reporting
- Next steps
1. 2020 CARIP Reporting requirements
The requirements for the 2020 reporting year are to submit by August 6, 2021 a Carbon Tax Calculation form (Attachment 1) for amount of carbon taxes paid by the Town for fuel purchases in 2020. This form was submitted July 5, 2021. A grant cheque can be expected later in this summer for $3760.00. Unlike previous years, no comprehensive reporting is required. Nonetheless data has been collected for 2020 and staff will provide GHG emission figures in September.
2. End of Climate Action Revenue Incentive Program
On May 11, 2021, the end of the Climate Action Revenue Incentive Program was announced. The Municipal Affairs Minister stated that while CARIP was being discontinued, the Province was providing $11 million in funding this year for climate projects in municipalities and would consult with local governments on alternatives going forward.
A number of municipalities and organizations have publicly written to the Province with concerns about the sudden termination of a valuable program and have requested a provincewide solution that provides consistent non-application based funding to support simple annual climate reporting of municipal GHG emissions. A letter from the Union of BC Municipalities is provided in Attachment 2.
3. Implications
a. Challenges to measuring corporate emissions Through CARIP the Town has achieved recognized carbon neutral municipal (corporate) operations from 2013 to 2019. Without CARIP, a different framework will be needed if corporate emissions are to be tracked. Currently, neighboring municipalities are weighing their options. While this does not directly impact the proposed Community Climate Action Strategy, which looks at the community as a whole, reporting on corporate emissions demonstrates leadership and provides accountability to the community.
b. Loss of coordinated reporting & data CARIP provided a consistent reporting framework across the province for over almost ten years. There are different international standards
c. Balancing credits no longer applicable The Province’s Green Communities Carbon Neutral Framework devised a series of programs for balancing credits to reduce municipal GHG emissions, including
- Building retrofits and fuel switching
- Solar thermal (hot water) retrofits
- Household organic waste composting
- Low emission vehicles
- Avoided forest conversion
The Town primarily obtained balancing credits from the household organic waste composting program. The credits have been substantial between the Town’s Household Organic Composting Project and CRD’s Household Organic Composting Project that pro-rated credits from multifamily household composting, but typically it has been acknowledged that was time intensive to collect, analyze and make attestations about the data has been time intensive.
d. Loss of CARIP Grant as revenue There will be no further grants to offset Carbon Taxes paid for fossil fuel purchases. The CARIP grant usually returned $2000-$3500 per year to the Town. Often the funds were used to purchase carbon credits to achieve carbon neutrality. Other municipalities relied more heavily on the grant to supplement climate action initiatives.
e. Efforts to find external funding Application based grants that may or may not be successful can take staff resources away from work on other initiatives.
4. Future Reporting
Staff recommends continuing to track municipal GHG emissions using appropriate methodology. In the absence of an annual grant, a 2022 budget request for services to calculate GHG emissions and to purchase carbon credits can be expected. Staff recommend that the Town of View Royal demonstrate leadership and accountability to climate adaptation and mitigation through annual reporting.
5. Next Steps
a. Staff will calculate GHG emissions using available methodology (coefficients vary annually) and report the figures in September. b. Staff will consult with other municipalities in the region and report back on options to measure Green House Gas emissions from municipal operations. c. District of Saanich has filed a resolution for consideration at the Union of BC Municipalities convention in September 2021. There should be opportunities for members of Council attending the event to take part in the discussion. d. Staff can prepare a letter to the Province calling for consistent, non-application based funding to support annual reporting of municipal Green House Gas emissions, if directed by Council.
RECOMMENDATION
THAT the July 8, 2021 report from the Senior Planner titled “2020 Climate Action Revenue Incentive Program and End of Program” be received for information.
SUBMITTED BY: Jeff Chow, MCIP, RPP, Senior Planner
REVIEWED BY: Lindsay Chase, MCIP, RPP, Director of Development Services
ATTACHMENTS
- 2020 Carbon Tax Calculation form
- UBCM letter, May 28, 2021