The climate of the earth and Kingston is changing, and the use of fossil fuels is a major contributing factor. The City of Kingston, like all municipalities, is faced with the dual challenge of reducing our impact on global climate change and proactively adapting our infrastructure and programs to reduce impacts from severe and changing weather patterns like hotter and drier summers, higher intensity rainfall events, warmer winters, icing conditions, and new types of pests and diseases. 

What the City is doing to reduce our carbon footprint

The City and Utilities Kingston are doing many things that directly and indirectly reduce GHG emissions.

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More: 

• Electric Vehicle Strategy: switching from gas and diesel to clean electric vehicles and providing public charging stations.
• Investment in public transit: increasing transit ridership through improved routes, services and programs.
• Energy from waste: managing organic waste to prevent methane and examining potential for Kingston to generate clean bio-gas energy from organic wastes.
• Greener buildings: retrofitting existing buildings and creating new buildings to a higher environmental standard.
• Active transportation: making it easier to go car-free with bike friendly infrastructure, walkable streets, and community bike-sharing.
• Compact urban form: avoiding sprawl and car dependency through urban density, transit oriented development and infill. 

Kingston recognizes the climate emergency

On March 5, 2019, the City of Kingston became the first Ontario municipality to declare that climate change is an emergency that requires an urgency and strategic response. See the full motion passed at council.

Help needed! 

Did you know that the GHG emissions from municipal operations count for less than 2% of the entire carbon footprint of the City of Kingston?  No matter what the City does to reduce emissions we can't reach our reduction targets without the help of citizens and businesses.

Though climate change is a daunting global challenge, there are many things that we can do at a local level to help. There are many positive things already happening in our community from participating in the annual Sustainable Kingston - Kingston Unplugged Earth Hour to undertaking renewable energy projects.

Do you own or manage a business or organization? 

Sustainable Kingston's Sustainably.eco Program provides an easy to understand process for going green and reducing your operation's impact on climate change. Become a member today or visit their site and see which Kingston organizations are doing their part!