Fredericton First Community East of B.C. to Achieve Climate Change Goals

Fredericton (January 13, 2011) – The City of Fredericton is the fourth municipality in Canada and the first east of British Columbia to achieve the highest certification possible for its efforts to reduce both municipal and community greenhouse gas emissions.

Fredericton’s efforts in reducing community emissions were officially certified this week by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) as having reached the fifth and final milestone of its Partners for Climate Protection Program. Fredericton achieved Milestone 5 for reduction of corporate emissions in September 2009.

“I congratulate the City of Fredericton for achieving the fifth and final milestone of the Partners for Climate Protection program for community emissions, complementing the excellent work done by the City in 2009 on their corporate emissions,” said Federation of Canadian Municipalities President Hans Cunningham. “The City of Fredericton is in a leadership position to help mentor and encourage other municipalities to achieve similar success.”

Fredericton is one of 211 municipal governments participating in the Partners for Climate Protection Program. Only three other municipalities in Canada - all of them in British Columbia - Vancouver, North Vancouver and Whistler, have achieved all five milestones in both categories to date.

“This is the fantastic news we have been waiting for since we joined the program in 2001,” said Mayor Brad Woodside, who announced the news during his 2010 State of the City Address at the new Fredericton Convention Centre, a facility built by the City of Fredericton to achieve LEED Silver Certification for energy and environmental building design. “We have made incredible progress reducing our corporate emissions by 16 per cent and, as a community, our emissions are down 12 per cent on a per citizen basis. It says to Canada and the world that Fredericton is a leader in recognizing that local governments have a significant role to play in addressing climate change.”

The City has been invited to tell other municipalities about its successful journey during FCM’s Sustainable Community Conference next month in Victoria, B.C.

In completing the five-milestone program, Fredericton was first required to create a greenhouse gas emissions inventory and forecast. The last four milestones were achieved by setting an emissions reductions target; developing a local action plan; implementing the local action plan or a set of activities; and finally, monitoring progress and reporting results.

“We will continue our efforts to reduce our own environmental footprint and will continue to work with our partners to develop a more sustainable community for future generations,” said Mayor Woodside. “I want to thank everyone who has been a part of this effort and to I encourage everyone to carry on this important work.”

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) has been the national voice of municipal government since 1901 and represents a membership of more than 1,000 municipalities. It is dedicated to improving the quality of life in communities by promoting strong, effective and accountable municipal government.