Climate Action

Climate change represents the greatest challenge facing the modern world. As the climate warms, increasingly significant impacts are expected to occur as a result of warmer global temperatures, increases in the volume and intensity of precipitation, extreme weather events (e.g. forest fires, droughts) and sea level rise.

The City has set community-wide greenhouse gas reduction targets and is developing plans and programs to lower GHG emission in the community and adapt to a changing climate.

In April 2019, recognizing the global concern raised by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to limit global warming to 1.5°C, Nanaimo's City Council declared a Climate Emergency and set new community-wide emission reduction targets be set to between 50% and 58% below 2010 levels by 2030, and between 94% and 107% below 2010 levels by 2050.

Supporting this further, Council adopted the Doughnut Economics framework; a guiding model designed "to build a city and community that operates within the planetary boundaries."

The City Plan - Nanaimo Reimagined includes Climate Action policies.  Section C1.1 of the plan is dedicated to greenhouse gas emission reduction.