The Ministry of Natural Resources is supporting the development of the Municipal Energy and Emission Database (MEED), an integrated geospatial platform that tracks greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for municipalities across Canada.
“Better data for municipalities means better planning and better energy efficiency, getting us a third of the way to our Paris targets,” said Seamus O’Regan Jr., Minister of Natural Resources.
The MEED was developed by Sustainability Solutions Group, a climate planning consultancy that has created community energy and emissions plans for over 60 municipalities, and whatIf? Technologies, experts in energy, emissions and financial modelling. Funding was provided by Natural Resources Canada’s GeoConnections Program, which facilitates sharing and use of geospatial information about Canada’s lands, people, and natural resources to support economic, social, and environmental priorities.
The platform supports open knowledge and data sharing among municipalities, particularly smaller and medium-sized municipalities, allowing greater access to standardized data on energy use and GHG emissions to support land-use planning, policy development and program design. This information is critical for designing effective plans for reducing GHG emissions.
The benefits of a MEED include:
- A globally recognized standard: The inventories MEED generates use the Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories (GPC). The inventories can be used to report to the Global Covenant of Mayors, CDP, and Partners for Climate Protection.
- Capability to explore emissions by sector or fuel source: Sectors include transportation, buildings, stationary energy. Industry and agriculture, forestry and land-use are in development.
- Comparability: Municipalities can compare their GHG emissions with peers by viewing or downloading results from other communities.
- Transparency: Inventories are public, improving accountability for taking on climate action.
“Communities need up-to-date GHG inventories to improve energy efficiency and take effective climate action,” said Yuill Herbert of the Sustainability Solutions Group Workers Co-operative. “In the past, creating inventories has been costly. Now, MEED is making inventories available free of charge so citizens, businesses and governments can get right down to fighting climate change.”
