Vernon City Hall (Image Credit: Liam Verster / Vernon Matters)

By Liam Verster

Climate-Related Project Guidance

Vernon reviewing Climate Action Plan

Feb 23, 2026 | 5:12 PM

The municipal document that outlines climate-related projects and goals is getting a review. 

At the request of the Climate Action Advisory Committee (CAAC), the City of Vernon has agreed to undertake a review of the Climate Action Plan.

The plan was adopted and implemented in 2021, and the CAAC said the five year mark should see the plan reviewed to see how it had been implemented over the past half decade; conduct technical studies to inform the review and update to the plan; and then make those changes.

“These studies will assess greenhouse gas (GHG) emission trends since 2017, implementation progress for the past five years, GHG mitigation scenarios and targets, and climate adaptation objectives,” the city staff report read.

“Preliminary work to scope these technical studies began in 2026, and the results of the studies will inform updates to the Climate Action Plan.”

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Vernon City Council voted unanimously to support the review of the plan at the regular meeting Monday, Feb. 23.

Speaking with Vernon Matters, Mayor Victor Cumming said it was important for the city to see what progress had been made in relation to these efforts, and where the plan could be improved.

One of the key points of the plan that had been shown to work to address GHGs so far was focusing on densifying housing around the downtown core.

“That means if you have a little old house that is maybe 100 years old, and it comes down and what goes up is two or three [homes] on that lot, well that triples density on that site, which then people in this core tend to walk more or cycle more, so they’re getting around the city without a vehicle or they’re going shorter distances than [if they were] living further out,” Cumming explained. He added supporting people’s shift to hybrid or electric vehicles was another key point the city had made progress on.

The mayor noted one key challenge still to be addressed was how about a third of emissions comes from heating buildings.

“”Those [heating] systems are all baked in for the long-term, so getting those to slowly shift to less carbon fuels or more efficiency, insulation or whatever, that’s going to be a long, slow process,” Cumming said.

The plan was expected to be reviewed and updated by 2027.