Climate Action Now

Surrey’s Plan for a Zero Carbon, Climate-Resilient City.

We are developing a new Climate Change Action Strategy to reach Surrey’s ambitious 2050 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets and improve the community’s resilience to climate change impacts.

Climate change is happening here and now.

Here in Surrey, we’re experiencing things like more flooding, hotter summers, and poor air quality from wildfire smoke. Impacts in far-away places also affect us here.

Climate change is mostly caused by burning fossil fuels.

When we burn fossil fuels – like gasoline, diesel and natural gas – to power our vehicles and heat our homes, we release greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere. The gases act like a blanket around the earth that traps the heat of the sun. The more fossil fuel we burn, the thicker we make the blanket, and the hotter it gets. Global heating since the industrial revolution is causing extreme weather and sea level rise, damaging ecosystems, and harming people.

The science is clear: climate change is a global crisis.

We know what we need to do, and there’s still time to act.

Fortunately, we know most of the solutions to turn the crisis around, but we need to act quickly. We can reduce the need for burning fossil fuels in the first place, by making buildings more efficient, by planning our city so more of our daily needs are close to home, and by investing in safe walking, cycling and transit. We can use clean electricity to power our cars and homes. And we can protect and restore our ecosystems like forests and wetlands.

Many of these choices will also make us healthier and help us prepare for the future.

Get Involved

Read about the key components of our climate action framework.

Our Climate Action Framework:

Resilient 15-Minute Neighbourhoods

What if we could meet our daily needs without needing to use a car?

Safe Zero-Carbon Transportation

Climate-friendly mobility puts people and the planet first.

Resilient Zero-Carbon Buildings

The Great Indoors: Making Space for Climate Action

Climate-Positive Resilient Ecosystems

Our ecosystems are not simply valuable; they are priceless natural assets.

Bold City Leadership

Leading the way to our equitable zero-carbon future.

Resilient Energy and Zero Waste Systems

Clean energy meets Surrey's needs and waste is all-but eliminated.

Our targets

In 2019 Surrey City Council declared a Climate Emergency, joining a growing wave of other cities and countries worldwide. In 2020 Council approved bold new targets to reduce our carbon pollution before 2050. Council also directed staff to create a plan to reach these targets. Our 2050 targets are in line with the global science, with other local governments and with Metro Vancouver. They are:

• Before 2050, we will reduce our city-wide* carbon pollution to “net zero”. This means we will reduce community emissions very close to zero. From there, we expect to use natural solutions and technology to remove carbon pollution from the air and balance any remaining emissions.
• Before 2050, the City will eliminate all the carbon pollution from City operations, like buildings and vehicles we own and operate.

The City can’t do this alone. We will need the support and cooperation of other levels of government, industries, and the organizations that provide our energy and our transit system. And we need your support!

*Our climate plan follows the Global Protocol for Cities method. We measure emissions from sources within the city limits, with the exception of most agricultural and industrial emissions which are accounted for in the provincial and regional climate inventories and plans.

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