Houston received $13,437 from the B.C. government this year as part of the climate action revenue incentive program (CARIP). Houston, along with other local governments, signed the climate action charter in 2007 committing them to be carbon neutral, to measure the town’s greenhouse gas emissions, and to report publicly the community’s progress towards climate action goals. Approximately 96 percent of the local governments in B.C. have signed the charter.
This year communities in B.C. will share over $6.4 million in grants from CARIP. Since 2008, CARIP has granted over $39 million to aid communities in their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. According to the provincial government, over 40 per cent of all greenhouse gas emission in B.C. are under the influence of local governments.
Michael Glavin, Chief Administrative Officer of the District of Houston, said that the current projects for how this fund will be utilized will be in the replacement of district owned streetlights, adoption and implementation of our Age Friendly Plan, and life cycle plans which will incorporate energy efficient products such as replacement of lights.
Houston does not have a climate action reserve, but the District of Houston does work towards a Greenhouse Gas reduction project each fiscal.
“There are a number of initiatives that we are doing. For example we are replacing all of the district owned street lights to LED. For [the] 2016 fiscal we have a budget of $20,000. We are looking into expanding our Geothermal energy program. We are in the process of conducting life cycle audits on the community hall, the arena and the leisure centre, which will include the installation of energy efficient features such as new windows, etc.,” commented Glavin.
In last year’s 2015 climate action report, the District of Houston proposed to adopt and implement the Community Health and Wellness Charter, which was done on April 19, 2016. Some of the district’s other goals for 2016 stated in the report are to recycle black soil for use as top soil in parks, recycle asphalt for paving roads, adopt an anti-idling policy for district vehicles,and to work towards allowing community gardens onto brownfields and contaminated sites as a temporary use of land.
The District of Houston’s greenhouse gas reduction target is 12 per cent below 2007 emission levels by 2012, 18 percent by 2016, and 33 percent by 2020. The next report is due June 2017.