The following was originally published in the Richmond Review newspaper on Friday March 16, 2012. View the article in its original format (PDF).

Through innovative practices, Richmond has long been a leader in environmental protection and sustainability while we address climate change and global warming.

You can see how our city has integrated sustainability through a wide range of initiatives and features at www.richmond.ca/services/Sustainable/towards/citydoing. The City’s Enhanced Corporate Sustainability Initiative was launched a number of years ago. Its aim is to effectively enhance our environmental protection measures where practical. A second objective is to address climate change and other imperatives with a triple bottom-line analysis setting out economic, social and environmental impacts, particularly for all of the City’s major planning initiatives.

Here are a few examples of City Council’s approach:

• New industrial buildings can help us avoid flooding as we better handle storm water runoff through a variety of alternatives – from green roofs, additional landscaping and permeable pavement, to better water collection.
• New civic buildings are much more energy efficient. Our partnership with BC Hydro has also encouraged equipment retrofits designed to make existing buildings far more responsive.
• Soon to be completed is the City’s first District Energy System, located in the West Cambie neighbourhood. Using geo-thermal energy, the fully built utility will heat and cool almost 4 million square feet of residential, commercial and industrial space free of reliance on fossil fuels. This is the equivalent of taking up to 2,000 cars off the road annually.
• The recent “Go Recycle” public spaces pilot project which highlights how the City benefits through recycling.

And, there are many more examples – from wind turbines and green roofs, to solar hot water systems and high efficiency mechanical systems.

Richmond also wants the lessons of sustainability to be embraced by our youth. The City has partnered with our School Board and the David Suzuki Foundation to co-present at the upcoming Richmond Earth Day Youth Summit 2012. 500 youth will be empowered as they consider a wide variety of environmental themes.

As we benefit from all of these initiatives, watch for many more progressive innovations to come as Richmond leads the way.