The Town of Newmarket’s plans to combat climate change has fallen behind the pace of other municipalities, according to a new report.
Local environmentalist Walter Bauer has scrutinized Newmarket’s community energy plan, comparing it to Aurora, Richmond Hill, Caledon and Halton Hills. Newmarket’s plan, which aims to reduce the environmental impact of the municipality, is the least comprehensive of the bunch, according to Bauer. His report states that the town must improve its targets to match the federal government's agenda.
The former Green Party candidate said he wants to ensure Newmarket is following up on climate change efforts after declaring a climate emergency in 2019.
“It’s insufficient just to declare an emergency. You got to do something about it,” he said. “Newmarket’s plan has a lot of good statements, but they lack detail in their commitment and in their objectives.”
Newmarket’s community energy plan, adopted in 2016 and one of the first in Ontario, aims to reduce per-capita energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent by 2041 from a 2017 baseline, compared to Aurora’s aims of 80 per cent by 2050. Bauer’s report said the per-capita targets come with communities expecting to deal with growth in the years to come, making flat reductions more difficult.
But Bauer said the plan falls well short of Canada’s more recent climate action targets, with the federal government planning to reach net zero emissions by 2050. The analysis said the town further needs to update its plan with items like year-over-year planned progression.
Despite steps taken like committing to solar energy, Bauer said neither Newmarket nor Aurora have managed direct influence on the two communities. His analysis indicates Newmarket is also likely to miss targeted corporate reductions in electricity and natural gas consumption.
“In any emergency, triage is necessary to identify where limited resources can be most effective,” Bauer’s report said. "Building retrofits should be prioritized over new development. To reduce transportation emissions, we need to shift to electric vehicles, cycling, walking or public transit.”
Council has placed updating its community energy plan among its priorities for the term, and said it will be done to "ensure the town leads in climate action."
"We know we must protect our environment and address climate change," a statement from the mayor and council in the council priorities document said.
NewmarketToday did not receive a reply to a request for comment from the town before publication deadline.
Despite the criticism in Bauer’s analysis, he said both Newmarket and Aurora have been receptive and provided him with the information he sought.
“It seems to be well-received,” Bauer said.
It has not been all bad. Bauer praised Newmarket for securing green building standards as part of the deal to allow the Shining Hill development to proceed in the southeast corner of town, something of which he said there needs to be more.
Although the province is pressured to get as many homes built as fast as possible, Bauer said there should still be striving for green standards and that they are in demand.
“It might cost an additional $40,000 per house and I believe there’s a demand for houses like this,” he said. “As the Shining Hill example will eventually show when they sell these units, the developers will find that people want things like this. So one doesn’t have to work against the other.”
Municipalities will also be encouraging community members to reduce their emissions., Bauer said there are plenty of options for that, including home retrofits, using public transit and electric vehicles.
The actions towns take to address climate change will be watched by Bauer and other environmentalists, he said.
“I’m going to be staying in contact with both municipalities and pushing, so hopefully it makes a difference.”
