Ottawa (September 24, 2008) – The City of Ottawa highlighted its commitment to greening the Capital by moving forward with two environmentally friendly policies. Council is pushing ahead on its Fleet Emission Reduction Strategy (FERS) that will help form a new Green Fleet Policy to strengthen the City’s procurement process. Council also decided to remove the ‘pilot’ tag from its Green Partnership Program (GPP) allowing community groups better access to  funding to clean and green their neighbourhoods.

“I am pleased we are moving towards a greener and cleaner City of Ottawa,” said Mayor Larry O’Brien. ”We are making progress towards reducing emissions by adopting new technologies and practices and replacing older vehicles with more fuel efficient versions that will allow the City to meet new emissions criteria. In addition to this, we are encouraging residents to help beautify our neighbourhoods with the Green Partnership Program.”

The new Green Fleet Policy, an initiative of Ward 2 Innes Councillor Rainer Bloess and Ward 6 Stittsville-Kanata West Councillor Shad Qadri, will be designed to look at options favouring the purchase of “green” vehicles while providing the flexibility to adopt promising new technologies and practices.

City Council directed staff to update FERS (2004) by March 2009 and seek funding from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) Green Municipal Fund to offset the cost of developing the Green Fleet Policy/Strategy. The FCM fund is designated for developing communities that are more environmentally, socially and economically sustainable.

Many of the specific initiatives in FERS are already in place including:

• Establishing an anti-idling By-law;

• Using of solar panels to reduce idling;

• Replacing older vehicles with less polluting modern “green” vehicles;

• Purchasing more fuel efficient models (including the purchase of 97 hybrid buses);

• Right-sizing the fleet by buying the smallest vehicle practical; and

• Introducing fuel-efficient driving techniques through the Eco Driving Program.

The City has over 3,000 vehicles and pieces of equipment in its fleet and the continuing rise in fuel costs requires a significant increase to the City’s expenditures. As a result, for both environmental and economic reasons, Council has directed staff to develop the Green Fleet Policy and seek initiatives to reduce fuel consumption.

Council also agreed to make the GPP permanent. The program has run as a pilot over the last three years, funding various projects including community gardens, shrub, tree and flower plantings, interpretative signage, pathway enhancements and graffiti prevention.

“The great thing about the Green Partnership Program is that we are engaging the community and greening neighbourhoods at the same time,” said Planning and Environment Committee Chair Peter Hume. “By making this program a permanent one, the City is once again showing its commitment to our environment. We are also showing leadership by embracing a greener fleet and reducing our carbon emissions.”

Since 2006, the Program has approved almost $700,000 in funding to 112 projects across Ottawa. The Program offers excellent value as each dollar spent by the City to fund projects has been matched through cash, in-kind services or volunteer hours by the applicants.

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