New tool helps Canadian municipalities reduce greenhouse gas emissions

A Nova Scotia MP unveiled an online tool Monday to help small and medium-size municipalities across Canada develop plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The municipal energy and emissions database (MEED) gathers open-source data about localized energy use, and guides users through creating an inventory of emissions and setting targets to reduce them. 

"It's the sort of thing that I'm sure Colchester is going to be very excited to follow up on because they do have a plan to get to net-zero emissions themselves," said Cumberland-Colchester MP Lenore Zann.

The tool was created by the Sustainability Solutions Group (SSG), a national co-operative with offices in Halifax and Tatamagouche, N.S.

Yuill Herbert of SSG hopes the tool will be widely adopted by municipalities. 

"This will enable them to directly and more easily report on their emissions every year and also track how their emissions reduction activities are succeeding or not, and adapt accordingly," Herbert said.

Zann said a greenhouse gas inventory and reduction plan would normally cost tens of thousands of dollars.

But MEED removes that financial barrier for smaller municipalities.

Herbert said roughly a dozen Nova Scotia municipalities have a greenhouse gas reduction plan, and fewer than a dozen have completed an emissions inventory.

He said it takes approximately a year for a municipality to develop a full greenhouse gas inventory.

Herbert said the tool is straightforward to use without extensive training. He hopes to eventually market the tool to smaller U.S. municipalities.

The federal government spent $80,000 to develop the tool.

It aims to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050.