Climate Change Action Strategy

Consultation has concluded

Surrey's roadmap to a zero-carbon climate-resilient city in 2050

The Climate Change Action Strategy (CCAS) is Surrey’s plan to achieve greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets and improve the community’s resilience to climate change impacts by 2050.

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 GHG emissions 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.

Surrey's roadmap to a zero-carbon climate-resilient city in 2050

The Climate Change Action Strategy (CCAS) is Surrey’s plan to achieve greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets and improve the community’s resilience to climate change impacts by 2050.

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 GHG emissions 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.

Consultation has concluded

  • The Climate Change Action Strategy is adopted by Council

    The Climate Change Action Strategy was adopted unanimously by Surrey City Council on July 24, 2023. Staff will now begin the work of implementing the CCAS.

  • Surrey residents support taking bold actions to address climate change

    Our public engagement process included a statistically representative survey that showed Surrey residents support taking bold action to reduce emissions and improve resilience to climate change. We also learned that:

    • Over eight out of ten Surrey residents are concerned about climate change.
    • Surrey residents are excited about creating 15-minute neighbourhoods where we can walk, cycle or “roll” to meet most of our daily needs.
    • Surrey residents show strong support for shifting our transportation system, to prioritize walking, cycling and reduce reliance on personal vehicles.
    • Protecting and restoring ecosystem is a top priority of Surrey residents.
    • Surrey residents support updating standards for new buildings to improve efficiency and phase out fossil fuels, but have concerns about costs.
    • Surrey residents support City leadership to put climate action at the centre of decision making. Many comments also pointed to the need for accelerating early action and accountability, including with interim GHG targets.

    For eight weeks from May to June 2021, the City of Surrey invited the public to provide input on the draft Climate Change Action Strategy, our "roadmap" to reduce greenhouse gas pollution. 2,891 people participated in our surveys and we received over 13,000 individual comments. The feedback received will be incorporated into the draft Climate Change Action Strategy that is being advanced for Council’s consideration in early 2022.

    Find more information read our detailed Community Engagement Summary Report.

  • Virtual Engagement Event - June 23

    Climate Action Panel and “Ask Me Anything” Online Event
    Held on June 23 6:00 to 7:30PM

    This was an informative online event, held via Zoom, to "ask us anything" about the City of Surrey’s response to the climate crisis. It included presentations from youth, health professionals, and City staff. About 35 members of the community attended, and submitted many questions. Thank you to all who attended.

    Read a summary of the event or watch the recording.

    Additional questions and more detailed responses to these questions are also posted in the "Questions" section of this webpage - filter with the "June 23" tag to see the ones from this event.

  • Surrey City Council approves preliminary climate action framework and launch of public engagement!

    On Monday, May 10th, Council approved a Corporate Report with a preliminary climate action framework and a plan for public engagement. From May 13th to the end of June, the City invites residents, community members and other stakeholders to complete a survey to help shape Surrey’s Climate Change Action Strategy. The strategy will outline the City’s plan to meet bold targets, set by Surrey City Council last year, to reduce carbon pollution – also known as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions - to net zero community wide and absolute zero corporate emissions before 2050. The strategy will focus on the areas estimated to make the biggest impact on greenhouse gas emissions, along with other community benefits, including:

    • zero-carbon, resilient neighbourhoods
    • safe, zero-carbon transportation
    • healthy, zero-carbon buildings
    • climate-positive, resilient ecosystems
    • bold City leadership