Perth county

Climate change is not something that will happen in the distant future, it is happening right now.

Climate change is about us and it is about our community: how we are being affected by it now, how we will be affected in the coming years and the part that we can play in stopping it for us, for our children and our grandchildren. It is also about the opportunity to make changes for the betterment of all of our residents; for our economy; our health and how we live as a community.

The IPCC (United Nations) has stressed that we need to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs)* by 45% in the next ten years in order for us to continue to have a stable climate.

The Canadian Federal government has committed to the Paris Agreement target of reducing our emissions by 30% below 2005 levels by 2030. Our Provincial government has adjusted our target to match the Federal target of 30% below 2005 levels by 2030. Ontario has already reduced its emissions by 22% since 2005 since the closure of the coal plants, making our electricity grid produce cleaner energy.

Perth County emits approximately 819,900 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) from fossil fuels and waste sources. 

For our initial target to align with our Provincial and Federal targets, while taking in the guaranteed growth that we will be seeing in our population and buildings, we are aiming for a minimum reduction target of approximately 82,000 tonnes of carbon over the next ten years.

In many cases, we know what to do to lower these emissions. We have well-identified solutions. We just need to figure out which things we want to fix first and how we are going to make it happen.

This is not a question of ‘Should we?’ but rather ‘How can we?’. It seems like a daunting task but what choice do we have? Climate change presents unpredictable, catastrophic risks. This isn’t about our grandchildren anymore. This is about us…what we do and how it will affect us in our lifetime and how it will affect our children even more in their lifetimes. If we do not act now it will be too late. That is why it is an emergency.