Cities that signed on to the Climate Action Charter to get carbon tax rebates have until 2012 to become carbon neutral.

Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam and Port Moody have all signed on and all are taking steps towards that goal. Will they reach it? Not likely.

The good news though is that as long as the cities make a climate action plan and stick to it they won't have to buy carbon offsets like schools, hospitals and colleges — unless they want to.

"I strongly believe that it would be unlikely for the province to make that a requirement," said Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart, whose city was an early signatory to the charter in 2007.

Fraser Health is trying to find a way to factor in its obligation to purchase $1.3 million in carbon offsets from the Pacific Carbon Trust, an agency set up for the purpose. It has 52,600 tonnes of carbon emissions to offset. School District 43 may have to pay as much as $300,000 by June of 2011 because, according to staff calculations, SD43 facilities and vehicles emit about 12,000 in GHGs a year.

Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart says the city has already undertaken several projects to cut its carbon emissions. Even if it had to purchase offsets to cover the rest the amount would probably be less than $100,000, he said, adding optimistically: "We won't be required to pay because we're going to make it."

Coquitlam is 35% of the way towards its original 2015 target of reducing GHG emissions by 30% and Stewart said the earlier deadline isn't really a problem because the city was planning to make more energy-saving changes anyway.

"They are among the highest priorities, most of them have a really strong return on investment."

According to the city's energy and emissions management plan, it is costing $4.8 million to upgrade heating and lighting facilities to reduce emissions by 30%. But that investment will save the city $570,000 a year, and will be paid back in energy savings in less than nine years.

"We had some low-hanging fruit we could pluck right away, so we're now able to do some really neat projects," Stewart said.

The city recently installed a more energy efficient heating system in the Poirier library during renovations last year and upgraded the heat recovery ventilation system at the City Centre Aquatic Complex — a project that reduced corporate emissions by 11.5%.

Energy efficient hot water heaters and lighting have also been installed.

More could be done, however, Stewart says, and he's asked for an updated plan for the city's GHG emission targets now that the 2012 deadline set by the provincial government is approaching

He would like to see the city work with other jurisdictions to combine heating and cooling resources in a district energy program. Technology is available and will be used in the Poirier Sport Centre Renewal project to cut down on energy costs and carbon emissions. He'd liked to see it used in other areas of the city.

Coquitlam is also looking at making street lights more energy efficient, and is looking at spending $500,000 next year to do so.

Other GHG-reducing projects on the go include:

• putting GPS systems into fleet vehicles to reduce vehicle trips and cut down on fuel consumption

• provide employees with subsidized transit passes in a partnership with TransLink

• expand the bike network

• improve irrigation systems to reduce water consumption

• plant more trees

• implement a sustainable urban forestry management plan

Port Coquitlam and Port Moody have also signed on to the Climate Action Charter to reduce greenhouse gasses and are in the process of establishing community environmental plans and targets.

PoMo already has a goal of reducing corporate emissions by 20% and community emissions by 6% but will have to revise them upward to meet the government's 2012 goal for carbon neutrality. The city's project manager thinks the goal can be achieved. "Hopefully the work that we have done in idling targets and policies are leading towards it," said Bob Parsons, project manager.

In PoCo, the city is in the midst of a community consultation on greenhouse gas reduction targets and other goals. A meeting was held last week on the Environmental Strategic Plan, which will include targets on climate change and energy, among other things. (For more details, visit www.portcoquitla.ca/enviroplan.)

dstrandberg@tricitynews.com