Net-zero emissions plan a pipe dream without funding help, chair says

The chair of Ottawa's environment committee says it will be impossible for the city to fund a plan to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to zero over the next three decades without some help.

City staff have been working on the plan to cut emissions to zero by 2050 since city council declared a climate emergency in the spring. The plan will be made public in a few weeks, ahead of an environment committee meeting on Dec. 17.

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That debate won't happen in time to be included in the city's 2020 budget, however.

The standing committee on environmental protection, water and waste management endorsed 2020 budget spending at its meeting Tuesday. The upcoming year willtackle climate change by way of$3 millionto retrofit city buildings, and millions to boostthe sewage treatment plant's ability to generate its own power.

The upcoming climate changereport will present a bigger picture, longer term strategy, andan optionto reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent, the city's current target. It will also present a more ambitious,aggressive model to hit net-zero emissions by 2050.

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Coun. Scott Moffatt, who chairs the committee, said upper levels of government will need to pitch in if the more ambitious target is going tobe met.

"I think there's going tobe a lot in the report that the city cannot fund. It'll be such a far-reaching report in terms of what needs to happen that it'll be near unaffordable for the city to do it on its own," Moffatt said.

Steve Willis, the city's general manager of planning, infrastructureand economic development, said the report will present a range of strategies.

"What would it take to actually hit those emissions targets in all sectors of local economy? It's not just about the city, it's about what we as individuals would do and what businesses would do."

A second report on how to adapt and bolster infrastructure for the anticipated change in weather patternswill follow by March 2020.

Garbage fee rising$8

The committee approved other elements of the budget Tuesday, including $138 million tooperate the solid waste, forestry and infrastructure departments, and $422million for the drinking water, sewageand storm water systems.

For residents, that means an $8 fee increase for curbside collection, or $13.50 for units in multi-residential buildings, mostly due to new waste collection contracts.

The storm water fee will rise by9.6 per cent in 2020.

The cost of capital projects is an especially big part of the environment committee's budget more than $250 million for 2020 because of the billions of dollars worth ofwater mains and other infrastructure it maintains across a wide expanse.

For instance, it will spend $16 million on a new water main from Riverside South to Manotick, nearly $20 million tofix and replace culverts across the city, and more than $15 million at the city's two water filtrationplants.