Ville de Laval Innovating in GHG Offsets

Residential, commercial and industrial development projects

To view the Social Media Release, click here: http://smr.newswire.ca/en/ville-de-laval/ville-de-laval-innovating-in-ghg-offsets

LAVAL, QC, June 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ - Today, Ville de Laval is unveiling an offset program for greenhouse gases (GHGs), aimed at development projects—a first on Québec's municipal scene. Concerned about its impact on the environment, Ville de Laval has developed this new measure, which is designed to offset GHGs related to the construction of new development projects, through the purchase of carbon credits.

Starting immediately, all developers that submit an application to the City to obtain a connection permit with regard to the construction of a residential, commercial or institutional project, will have to pay the monetary offset amount established according to the surface area to be developed. Based on its development predictions, Ville de Laval expects to annually offset approximately 50,000 metric tons of CO2 in this way.

Laval Mayor Gilles Vaillancourt made a point of emphasizing the innovative nature of this measure: "Laval is innovating with such an offset program, which is a first step toward rolling out an overall plan for reducing GHG emissions, including reduction-at-source measures, in particular. Since there aren't many similar examples in the world, we plan on evaluating our approach, following our first few years of experience and as more knowledge is acquired. We have recently unveiled our Sustainable Urban Planning Policy, called ÉvoluCité, as well as our Sustainable Mobility Plan. Today, with the implementation of this program, we are adding an additional tool so that we can act responsibly with future generations in mind," mentioned the Mayor. This program has been analysed by Équiterre. A number of this organization's recommendations will help improve this program over the coming years.

The funds raised through this program will go toward buying carbon credits recorded in a worldwide carbon credit registry managed by the Canadian Standards Association. They will be used to finance local or global GHG emission reduction projects—for example, greening a school or the development of new renewable energy technology.

Ville de Laval intends to pursue its efforts in developing the fight against climate change. "Protecting biodiversity isn't a fad; it's one of the greatest challenges of our times," added Mayor Vaillancourt in his closing remarks.

/NOTE TO EDITORS: Media Assets accompanying this story are available as follows:

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SOURCE CITY OF LAVAL