The Municipal Climate Lens Tool was developed by Clean Air Partnership in conjunction with Ontario municipalities. It is designed to provide a preliminary, qualitative understanding of whether a municipal decision will affect climate (through the production of greenhouse gases) or be affected by climate (through increased exposure to temperature or precipitation).
The Tool is designed to be used by all staff in a municipality. It is designed to be broadly applicable to any decision. For staff unfamiliar with climate change concepts, a range of informational resources are supplied here. Additionally, please contact your climate/energy staff where they exist. Municipalities must decide the scope of decisions it should be applied to and how to enforce its use.
This is a web-based survey tool that is free to use and should take no more than 3 minutes to complete. For every decision, basic decision information is entered, then a series of questions are asked relating to how the decision can affect (or be affected by) climate. The tool examines how a decision could produce scope 1 and 2 emissions, and how it could be affected by extreme temperature and precipitation. High level results are provided both on-screen, and by email.
Municipalities across Canada are declaring climate emergencies. A key component of these declarations is the inclusion of climate considerations in municipal decision making. This tool provides a mechanism to analyze if there is a relationship between a municipal decision and climate change. It does not provide a detailed quantitative evaluation of a decision. Rather, it provides a red, yellow, green light system to help non climate municipal staff determine if this decision will affect climate or be affected by climate. It does not address the opportunities to reduce the climate impacts of this decision. The goal is the identification of a red, or yellow would trigger discussions with climate staff within the municipality.
We encourage users to reach out to climate/energy staff within their municipalities for initial guidance. If your municipality does not have such staff, contact Kevin Behan, kbehan@cleanairpartnership.org for additional information.
