Did you know that Orillia recently joined Toronto, Vancouver, Peterborough, Kingston and many other large and small Canadian cities in National Climate League annual standards reporting?
Since 2018, the National Climate League (NCL) has been capturing data points from a growing number of Canadian municipalities and regions. There are fifteen primary indicators, such as affordable housing, public transit, landfill waste, tree canopy and EV charging stations, that participating communities measure and report on annually. The NCL analyzes this data for a comparison, analysis and commentary on the performance and progress of the participating communities. The 2020 report, available at https://www.climatereality.ca/ncl, is a rich source of ideas and data intended to encourage municipalities to go 100% renewable by 2050.
Sustainable Orillia, working with City of Orillia staff, has registered Orillia as a participant for the 2021 National Climate League Standings. Orillia’s 2021 performance on those fifteen sustainability measures has been provided to the NCL. The 2021 Report will be available very soon, if not concurrent with receipt of this newsletter. We look forward to sharing the results and looking at how we can use the findings and recommendations here in Orillia.
In addition to submitting data for the next NCL Report (Version 4.0 – 2022 Standings), Sustainable Orillia is planning to produce a “State of Sustainability” report in 2022 for public release. This will be a “Made in Orillia” report card providing analysis of NCL statistics, plus additional measures that are relevant and specific to Orillia. Along with the NCL Report, these tools will help us connect, share and learn from other communities, providing fact-based data to inform municipal, business, household and individual decisions and priorities on our Path to Net Zero.
What gets measured, gets managed—and the NCL metrics will allow for informed management of the changes needed in Orillia in the critical years to come.
We’ll be in touch with updates in future newsletters and featured articles.