CBC Ottawa explains: How would Watson and Doucet tackle climate change?

Exactly two weeks before Ottawa's municipal election date, a United Nationspanel of nearly 100 scientists set off aloud siren.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world needs to make dramatic moves over the next12 years to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Otherwise, people should expect far worse flooding, wildfires, and extremely hot days leading to poverty and thousands of extinct species,

• UN report on global warming carries life-or-death warning
• MPs debate climate change after UN report warns of dire consequences

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities estimates that local governments have control over about50 per cent of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions.

So what is the City of Ottawa already doing about climate change? What do the lead candidates for mayor propose?

The city's approach so far

The city has two goals,one long-termand one short-term.

Many of the fundamental plans that guide the city's work already revolve around the ideas of favouring cycling and transit over roads and vehicles. New city buildings must also be built to LEED standards.

The city also has an Air Quality and Climate Change Management Plan. Last updated in 2014, the plan led the city toconvert 58,000 streetlights to LEDs, install charging stations for electric vehicles, and explore whether electricity could be generated from wasteat the W.O. Pickard Centre, the city's main sewage plant.

In late 2017, the current council also passed Energy Evolution, a strategyto move the community from fossil fuelsto renewable energy, in part by convincing residents to driveelectric vehicles anduseair-source heat pumps.

The challenges

Under the Energy Evolution strategy, even if the city pursued its most aggressive approaches, itwould only cut 48 per cent of emissions with the other 32 per cent toward the 2050 goal needing to be made up elsewhere.

They're moving, but they're moving so slowly that it's not adequate to the challenge at hand.- RobbBarnes of Ecology Ottawa

Add to that, the Ontario government has ended itscap-and-trade regime, which turned the tap off onmoney flowing for cycling infrastructure, and energy retrofits to social housing. In September, the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario pegged the amountallocatedto the Ottawa area through that fundat $97 million.

Old data is another challenge. Aconsultant is updating the city's emissions numbers, and the new council will geta report in early 2019.

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"They're moving, but they're moving so slowly that it's not adequate to the challenge at hand," saidRobbBarnes of Ecology Ottawa.

For Barnes and other environmental advocates, Mayor Jim Watson's office hasn't made climate change a majorpriority. They point to both a lack of leadership and tohis promise to keep spending increases capped at the rate of inflation.

Watson: Realistic goals

The incumbent mayor did not face these challengesat Ecology Ottawa's events this election, as he attended neither its mayoral debate nor its Eco Gala, and did not answer its survey on environmental issues.

Watsondid, however, lay out an environmental platform.

• Trees, bees and buses among Watson's green election promises

Many promises in that platform werealready being done or explored, like planting500,000 trees over four years, looking at using biomass for energy, and cutting200,000 tonnesof emissions through Stage 2 oflight rail.

Watsonalso was clear about his approach to climate change in a speechto the Carleton University chapter of Engineers Without Borders threedays after the UN report's release.

It's nice to beaspirational, but I think you have to be realistic with the public and set out goals that are attainable.- Jim Watson

At that event, Watson was asked given the recent floods, tornadoes, and the UN report whether he should"ratchet up" his leadership.

"Unfortunately I have to juggle a lot of balls, everything from police and safety andfire and environment and housing and economic development. And there's never enough money and never enough hours in the day to do everything we'd like," he answered.

"It's nice to be aspirational, but I think you have to be realistic with the public and set out goals that are attainable."

Doucet: A sustainable lens

Unlike Watson, Doucethas not made specificenvironmental promises. Instead, he told CBCNews that sustainability would be his top priority and would be the lens through which every decision is made.

"All the metrics should be pointing toward sustainable. And they're not now."

A decade ago, Doucet even wrote a book on the idea that cities have a big role in limiting climate change, but are hindered by a lack of political will.

When asked what measures the city should take, Doucetfocused less onreducing emissions, but on adapting to climate change:burying hydro wires, having backup water supplies, and using renewable, less centralized energy to avoid an outagelike the one caused by the loss of the Merivale substation during September's tornadoes.

He also advocated joining theC40 network cities that aim to implement the Paris climate agreement at the local level, including Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.

None of thisis in his platform, per se.

Its main plank is a regional rail system fuelled by diesel trains. But those would cause far less pollution than the cars they would replace, Doucetsaid.