The Corporate Climate Action Plan has been prepared to ensure Halton Region is responding to climate change and accompanies report number CA-16-23. Halton Region acknowledges its role to support the mitigation and adaptation required to address the climate emergency unanimously declared by Council. Halton Region understands the need to reduce its corporate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, to create resilient infrastructure and services to respond to the impacts of climate change and its role to support collective action with partners, stakeholders and community members.
Halton is not immune to the impacts of climate change. The region has already witnessed many severe weather events such as floods, high winds, tornadoes, ice storms and extreme heat and cold days. This will continue to pose serious risks to the Region’s infrastructure and resources, and threaten the Halton communities’ health, safety and prosperity. It has never been more clear that to limit global warming and prevent the most catastrophic impacts of climate change, we need to collectively do our part to accelerate the Region's climate transition.
To help achieve this, Halton’s 2023-2026 Strategic Business Plan identifies climate change and the environment as one of its strategic themes. The goals, actions and measures under this theme align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The Sustainable Development Goals are a collection of 17 goals that aim to address global challenges and set an ambitious target to build a more sustainable, safe and prosperous future for all. The alignment of the Sustainable Development Goals to the actions in this plan are identified in Appendix A. The Corporate Climate Action Plan has four themes and recommended actions that provide additional direction to focus the efforts of the Region that align with the priorities in the 2023-2026 Strategic Business Plan.
The need for accelerated action is clear. Halton Region is committed to addressing climate change and transitioning to a resilient, low-carbon future. The Region has listened and heard the Halton community and its partners and is delivering an ambitious plan to achieve its commitments. Local solutions, supporting collective action, and deepening existing partnerships, and brokering new ones to advance its climate response will be critical. Significant achievements have already been accomplished with the help of all levels of government, First Nations, Indigenous communities, partners, local businesses, and educational institutions. The Region is optimistic as it faces the global challenge of climate change and this plan helps utilize resources and expertise to achieve its climate transition ensuring a strong, healthy, and resilient organization that is equitable, diverse, and inclusive.
