Cambridge’s Corporate Sustainability Plan

[UrbanWaterloo]

Cambridge’s Corporate Sustainability Plan Supported by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Green Municipal Fund
April 12, 2012 | City of Cambridge | Link

The City of Cambridge is embracing sustainability and incorporating the philosophy and approach into everything we do today and into the future. The culmination of months of research, best practices and policy development occurred recently with the unveiling of the Corporate Sustainability Plan (CSP), an undertaking that puts in place guidelines that help shape the overall corporate approach to service delivery.

“The City of Cambridge was the first to obtain Gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) certification in Canada for our City Hall,” said Mayor Doug Craig. “We wanted to create an overarching policy that would continue this environmentally-friendly vision for everything we do.”

The CSP development was led by the Office of the Chief Executive Officer and involved numerous directors within the Corporation who worked with Stantec’s local environmental experts to craft the plan. The plan emphasizes four pillars of sustainability: Cultural, Economic, Environmental, and Social. These considerations form the basis for aspects of the municipality’s delivery of services to the community.

“We have developed a plan for our corporation that sustainably addresses our existing commitments through our approved Master Plans and Strategic Plans,” said Jim King, Chief Administrative Officer. There are currently 8 plans approved for the City including the Economic Development Strategy ‘Designing Your Future’.

To support the plan’s development, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) awarded the City of Cambridge nearly $60,000 from the Green Municipal Fund.

FCM President Berry Vrbanovic said, “The financing and knowledge provided by the Fund supports the development of communities that are more environmentally, socially and economically sustainable.” The tools and information generated by the plan will become important resources for other Canadian municipalities.

In Cambridge, sustainability refers to development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The full plan may be found at: http://www.cambridge.ca/the_office_o...inability_plan

What’s ahead? The City of Cambridge is now involved in the regional climate collaborative and is working with partners to take a snapshot of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions with a view to establishing an action plan for further GHG reductions. The inventory will capture the GHG emissions produced from various sectors of the community within the Region of Waterloo. The initiative is lead by Sustainable Waterloo Region and includes regional and local municipalities along with REEP Green Solutions.

[planningthatplannyplan]

Good for Cambridge. I didnt read the report, but skipped to Appendix A to see what projects were attributed to their efforts. The methodology for this report is being repeated in many municipalities, and essentially you outline any study that falls under a pillar of sustainability (including "economic" pillar) and rationalize it in sustainability terms. For example, selling off raw land for economic development fits within this rubric, even if the land is used to burn tires.

The real trick, which will be an implementation report in the future, is can municipalities, after providing an inventory of projects and identiying priorities, bring these varied projects under control to ensure that sustainability is a key driver. With literally hundreds of staff and volunteers involved in these projects, an office of sustainability with real power is likely the most effective means to achieve this. That office should likely report directly to the CAO.