The Community Fossil Free Plan launches into City Council!

Environment Hamilton is pleased to see Hamilton City Council take action on one of six initiatives presented to them in the public delegation process.

According to the Spec, "Council voted unanimously in favour of a motion at the end of the public meeting to research ways of increasing the city’s current pipeline tax, which has for years sat at a stagnant rate."

This motion was proposed by Ward 3 Counsellor Nrinder Nann (and seconded by Ward 12 Cousellor Alex Wilson) after a budget delegation that gave an overview of a fossil fuel non-proliferation action plan called the CFFP (Community Fossil Free Plan).

The idea for this plan begun with youth activists as a part of Friday's for Future Hamilton in October 2021, in light of the popular fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty. It reached Environment Hamilton the following summer, in June 2022. The guiding document—drafted by co-researchers Adeola Egbeyemi and McMaster ArtSci alum and current EH Board member Adan Amer—was completed in January 2023.

It aims to fill in the gaps of the city's plan, the CEEP (Community Energy and Emissions Plan), which passed as a part of Hamilton's climate action strategy in August 2022. The CFFP presents six climate-related transformations, all geared toward reducing local fossil-fuel dependence. 

These transformations include:

• Monitoring fossil fuel extraction
• Prioritizing Geothermal Energy
• Sustainable Rental Building Cooling
• Developing Green Bond Initatives
• Increasing Municipal Pipeline Taxes
• Making Pipeline Information Public

EH believes this is the first actionable fossil fuel non-proliferation plan in Canada. This plan has been supported and informed through-out by Ward 3 Climate Action and Community Coordinator Kerry Le Clair.

Moving forward, co-researchers Adeola and Adan have partnered with McMaster fourth-year enviro-sociology students in order to continue the conversation with relevant city staff for action on all six topics.

The full guiding document will be released soon, so stay tuned!

CLICK HERE to tune into Adeola and Adan speaking about the CFFP on Good Morning Hamilton AM900 CHML.

TBA: Adeola and Adan speaking about the CFFP on the Environmental Urbanist Podcast on CFMU 900.