A Carbon Neutral Public Sector
- Carbon neutrality involves reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and offsetting remaining emissions by investing in offset projects.
- Carbon neutrality does not mean zero GHG emissions; it means net zero GHG emissions once offsetting is counted.
- The B.C. government is setting an example and working to ensure that all its operations are carbon neutral by 2010. This commitment - enshrined in legislation - is the first of its kind in North America.
- It applies to all provincial public sector operations, including government ministries and agencies, schools, colleges, universities, health authorities and Crown corporations.
- To achieve carbon neutrality, everyone who works for the Province is required to:
- Report on their current GHG emissions as a baseline starting point.
- Reduce these emissions as much as possible, such as by replacing government travel, where possible, with teleconferencing..
- Offset the remaining emissions by investing in projects that reduce GHG emissions enough to make the net impact of all public sector operations neutral.
- Core government business travel has already been carbon neutral since October 2007.
- The 2008 provincial budget includes more than $100 million to enable the public sector to become carbon neutral. This is supporting energy efficiency upgrades to public buildings, along with communication tools to reduce the need for government travel.
- All new provincially-owned or leased facilities now must provide healthy workspaces while reducing GHG emissions. To accomplish this, new government buildings must be built to at least the LEED gold or equivalent standard. LEED is the recognized standard in environmentally friendly building design.
