But it's going to have to fix its water consumption and waste generation
Renee Bernard/John Streit | 2011/07/15
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - Vancouver city councillors want their city to be the greenest in the world by 2020, but there is a lot of work to be done to achieve that goal.
Vancouver is already in the top three, according to a Siemens ranking. Copenhagen and San Francisco are the top two.
However, city councillor Andrea Reimer admits Vancouver also ranks the lowest on some criteria. "We are one of the worst water users per capita in the world and we are one of the worst waste producers per capita in the world," she says. "Every day in this region, we use a billion litres of water, which is quite a substantial amount compared to other cities in developed nations."
Besides waste and water, the other ways the cities are measured are:
- Green economy (Vancouver hopes to double the number of green jobs);
- Climate (Vancouver wants to eliminate dependence on fossil fuels);
- Green buildings (Vancouver wants to require all new buildings be carbon neutral);
- Green transportation (Vancouver wants half of all trips to be done on foot, bicycle or by transit);
- Access to nature (Vancouver wants everyone to live within a five minute walk to a green space);
- Lighter footprint (Vancouver wants to reduce the per capita footprint by 33 per cent);
- Clean air (Vancouver wants to meet or exceed international air standards);
- Local food (Vancouver wants to increase city food assets by 50 per cent)
Reimer insists the costs won't be prohibitive, because the aim is to be more efficient with services already provided.
