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Sustaining our future

an environment that sustains us

Care for the local environment, respond to climate change and prepare Guelph for a net-zero-carbon future.

Key performance indicators

What do these colours mean?
Per cent reduction of climate risk exposure for the City's built and natural assets
Measure under review

Target

Planning year

Results

2021: Results are not available for 2021 at this time. Data will not be available until 2024 following the completion of the Climate Change Adaptation Plan.

2020: No data.

Notes

The Climate Change Adaptation Plan (CCAP) is still in the planning stage of the project.

The City has an inventory of Natural Assets and a plan in place to complete the updating of the inventory and condition assessment of Built Assets.

The scope of the CCAP is to deliver recommendations on CCAP actions which will then outline the KPI target for climate change risk.

Following the CCAP completion, a full year of implementation will be required to yield results for this KPI.

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Per cent increase in renewable energy resources to achieve corporate 100% renewable energy target (100RE)
Met target

Target

‍

Increase; 100% RE by 2050

Results

2021: Data for 2021 will not be available until mid-year 2022.

2020: 25.5%

2019: 24.4%

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Notes

Results have improved by 8.5% since the development of this target in 2018.

Per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to achieve Community Net-Zero carbon target
Not available at time of publishing

Target

Reduce

Results

2021: Data will not be available until Q2 2022.

2020: 894,309 tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

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Notes

Results have improved by 16.6% since the development of this target in 2018; The community greenhouse gas emissions inventory covers emissions taking place within the City boundary and emissions from use of grid-supplied energy and is guided by the Global Protocol for Community-scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories standard.

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Strategic initiatives

What do these colours mean?
Develop and implement a Sustainability City Master Plan

Focus area

Plan and design an increasingly sustainable city as Guelph grows

2021 Scope

Red

2021 Schedule

Red

2021 Budget

Yellow

2020 Scope

Red

2020 Schedule

Red

2020 Budget

Red

Upon further review and additional planning, the Sustainability City Master Plan will be initiated following the completion of the Climate Change Adaptation Plan to sequentially build on existing research and align recommendations. Upcoming Strategic Plan reporting will no longer include updates to this strategic initiative until it is initiated.

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Continue to support the Community Energy Initiative (CEI)

Focus area

Mitigate climate change by reducing Guelph’s carbon footprint

2021 Scope

Yellow

2021 Schedule

Yellow

2021 Budget

Yellow

2020 Scope

Red

2020 Schedule

Yellow 

2020 Budget

Green

As per Council direction, staff will report back on the resources and possible funding strategies to meet new ‘fair share’ interim targets as determined by the climate target methodologies of the Cities Race to Zero. This is in keeping with the end target date of 2050 or sooner and will be presented for consideration prior to the 2023 budget.

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Implement the ISO 50001 Corporate Energy Management System

Focus area

Mitigate climate change by reducing Guelph’s carbon footprint

2021 Scope

Green

2021 Schedule

Green

2021 Budget

Green

2020 Scope

Green

2020 Schedule

Green

2020 Budget

Green
Develop and implement Climate Adaptation Plan

Focus area

Create and execute ambitious and achievable climate adaptation plan

2021 Scope

Green

2021 Schedule

Green

2021 Budget

Green

2020 Scope

Green

2020 Schedule

Yellow 

2020 Budget

Red

2021 highlights

Local drinking water protected with Province’s support

In December 2021, the Province of Ontario approved the City of Guelph’s request to adjust its municipal boundaries to include the Dolime Quarry lands.

Local drinking water protected with Province’s support

Bringing electric buses to Guelph

The City of Guelph is one step closer in its efforts to reach 100 per cent renewable energy use by 2040 with the purchase of four electric buses.

Bringing electric buses to Guelph

Planting Guelph's tree canopy - one grant and tree at a time

Expanding Guelph's tree canopy from 23 to 40 per cent will be no easy feat. It will take a partnership between the City of Guelph, the community, developers and businesses to achieve this ambitious target over the next 11 years.

Planting Guelph's tree canopy - one grant and tree at a time

Budgets for Sustaining our future

Capital budget

$72.61M

Operating budget

$127.31M

Total budget requests

$1.32M
2022 Budget