Post-pandemic climate action opportunities for large and small communities.
Recognizing the pandemic recovery as an opportunity, PICS partnered with the Community Energy Association (CEA) to identify priority actions for communities to create jobs, reduce GHGs and enhance equity. The CEA had already established a successful Climate Leaders Playbook for local governments across British Columbia, highlighting big moves in transportation, buildings and waste for major emissions reductions. This project will produce a COVID-19 supplement to the Playbook, recommending actions that can be scaled up in large and small communities.
To do this work, PICS and CEA engaged two research teams. A team from Simon Fraser University tackled public transit, distilling lessons from cities in New Zealand and the United States. Where transit authorities quickly restored levels of service and introduced free fares, ridership substantially rebounded. Local governments can play an important supporting role in communicating the low risk of infection on transit.
A team from the UBC Collaborative for Landscape Planning (CALP) is focusing on reducing emissions in existing buildings and shifting behaviour around waste. Drawing from examples around BC and beyond, they emphasize the need for backbone organizations to coordinate and enhance hyper-local climate action at the scale of the block or neighbourhood.
PICS and CEA are working together to package the results of these projects to cater the needs of diverse communities around BC.