Targets for Future Reduction

The City has a long history of progressive actions designed to reduce emissions and demonstrate sustainable approaches to fleet management.

Leadership through Fleet Management

Richmond's corporate GHG emissions are just over 1% of the broader community emissions, and the City's fleet generates about 1/3 of the City's total corporate emissions.  With the Green Fleet Action Plan, Richmond is demonstrating leadership in it's community and the region by implementing actions that result in measurable improvements that reduce GHG emissions and fuel consumption.

Realistic Targets for Future Reductions

While setting high targets for GHG emission reductions sounds like a good idea in theory, it's not realistic or achievable in the context of a growing City.  Richmond, like many communities in the region, will continue to grow in the coming years and will need to expand to provide services.  More vehicles means more emissions and more fuel consumption.  But with Green Fleet initiatives, the rate of those increases can be reduced.

Without continued Green Fleet actions, emissions from Richmond's fleet are projected to rise 3% by 2020.  Instead, Richmond is aiming to reduce its emissions by 20% from 2010 to 2020.  This is based on an annual reduction of 2% per year starting in 2010.  The pragmatic approach takes into account growth requirements, costs for purchasing new best-in-class vehicles for trucks and other equipment, as well as purchase of additional electric and hybrid vehicles.