Local Government Climate Action Program reporting

The Local Government Climate Action Program (LGCAP) distributes funds and facilitates data and knowledge transfer between Modern Treaty Nations, local governments and the provincial government in support of cost-effective, impactful, locally implemented climate action.

Annual LGCAP reporting enables the Province to track progress, highlight climate leadership and advance climate action. The Province shares findings from reporting in the annual LGCAP Summary Report and the LGCAP data visualization.

On this page

• How to report
• Reporting requirements
• How reporting information will be used
• Emissions reporting resources

How to report

Before the reporting period opens, the primary contact for each local government and Modern Treaty Nation receives an email from the LGCAP team with instructions on how to:

• Access the online survey
  • Optional resource: The local governments survey template (DOCX, 81KB) or Modern Treaty Nations survey template (DOCX, 79KB) can be used to prepare and gather information across teams and departments. Survey templates will be available by April 15 for reporting on the prior calendar year
• Complete the reporting requirements

The Province will support local governments and Modern Treaty Nations with completing reporting requirements. Please contact us for assistance.

Reporting requirements

LGCAP reporting requirements are outlined in this section. Reporting requirement specifics are outlined in the online survey.  

Alignment with Provincial mitigation and/or adaptation strategies

The Province is currently considering recommendations from the independent and advisory CleanBC Review; any changes that are made will be thoughtful, practical and focused on affordability for people. Program areas will reach out to partners and stakeholders if there are any next steps related to CleanBC policies and programs.

In the meantime, participants must report on projects linked to one or more objectives from the CleanBC Roadmap to 2030 (PDF, 9.4MB) and/or the Climate Preparedness and Adaptation Strategy (PDF, 7MB), both corporately and at a community level, including, but not limited to: 

• Buildings: step code adoption, carbon pollution standard, energy efficient/demand side management programs, zero-carbon heating requirement and/or net-zero buildings commitments, upgrades to public buildings
• Transportation: active transportation plan or investments, secure bike parking, commute reduction programs, transit/pedestrian-oriented development regulation, electric vehicle charging infrastructure plans or number of public installations, trip reduction programs, mode shift targets in Official Community Plan and/or Regional Growth Strategy, zero emission vehicle fleet adoption 
• Community climate planning and related investments: compact and energy efficient community planning, organics diversion, completed climate or energy emission plan, renewable energy investments, communications (for example, newsletters and website content), engagement with constituents on climate-related matters, or educational programming
• Climate resilience: assessment of current and future climate risks and plans to address risks through local government planning, programming, service delivery, asset management and other functions 

Measuring and reporting traditional services GHG emissions

• Required for local governments with populations exceeding 5,000 and encouraged for local governments with populations under 5,000. Reporting traditional services emissions is voluntary for Modern Treaty Nations 
• A traditional services emissions inventory is an assessment of an organization’s GHG emissions that occur within a defined boundary and within a defined period (for a given year). Measuring and reporting traditional services emissions not only demonstrates climate leadership, but presents opportunities to better understand energy consumption and associated costs and make more strategic, informed decisions on capital and infrastructure investments. This involves reporting on GHG emissions associated with the delivery of traditional services, including:
  • Fire protection
  • Solid waste management
  • Recreational and cultural services
  • Road and traffic operations
  • Water and wastewater management
  • Government administration

Local governments and Modern Treaty Nations can adhere to the scope, boundaries and GHG quantification methodologies prescribed for LGCAP or to another established reporting framework such as the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).

Reporting on contracted services 

Reporting on traditional services GHG emissions includes those from contracted services. This includes contracts that are both:

• Over $25,000 in value in any calendar year, and 
• In scope based on the traditional services boundaries described in the Scope Summary for Traditional Services GHG Emissions (PDF, 1.4MB), except for administration and governance services

Program participants only need to track and report emissions from fossil fuel use in vehicles, equipment and machinery, not from buildings. These include, but are not limited to, gasoline, diesel, natural gas, propane and bio-fossil fuel blends.

While local governments and Modern Treaty Nations are encouraged to work with their contractors to get actual emissions data, it is recognized that in some cases this may not be possible. If this is the case, participants may choose to use one of the estimation methodologies provided in Appendix B of the Contracted Services Guidance (PDF, 1.2MB). A Contracted Services Calculator (XLSX, 71.2KB) is also available for estimating emissions from contracted services.

Supporting carbon neutrality

While traditional services carbon neutrality is not a component of this program, we continue to support the use of tools and resources such as the Becoming Carbon Neutral Guidebook (PDF, 2.4MB).

Reporting tools

Use the reporting guidance tools to help with measuring and reporting on traditional services GHG emissions.

There are options for GHG accounting tools on the market and participants can use any tool that meets the needs of their community. Local governments and Modern Treaty Nations can also create their own measurement tools. If you need help finding an appropriate fit, please contact us. 

Completing the annual LGCAP survey 

• A Chief Financial Officer, or equivalent position, must sign the attestation form at the end of the survey to confirm all LGCAP funds were, or will be, used towards climate action and be spent by the spending deadline (see funding page for details)
• Submit by July 31

Posting the annual LGCAP survey publicly

• Post the completed LGCAP survey, including the attestation form, publicly by September 30
• When posting the survey and attestation form publicly, the design and format of the document can be changed. All information from required questions must be included. Optional questions and answers can be omitted
• The requirement to make the survey and attestation form public can be fulfilled by doing one or both of the following:
  • Including them in council meeting minutes
  • Posting them to a website, social media and/or in a newsletter
• Only the most recent LGCAP survey needs to be posted publicly. Previous versions can be removed once there is a new report to post

How reporting information will be used

Information collected enables the Province to:

• Inform policy development and monitor progress on achieving provincial and local climate objectives
• Ensure that funds provided are used for these objectives
• Highlight and strengthen understanding of climate leadership at the community level by sharing local government and Modern Treaty Nations emissions, resilience and climate action performance data through:
  • the annual Climate Change Accountability Report (PDF, 8.5MB)
  • the LGCAP Summary Report
  • public access to the LGCAP data visualization
• Support provincial efforts to better collaborate with and enable communities to advance climate action

Emissions reporting resources

Use these guidance tools to help with measuring and reporting traditional services GHG emissions:

• LGCAP Traditional Services Boundaries and Scope Guidance (PDF, 1.1MB): This document clarifies organizational and operational boundaries, as well as in‑scope and out‑of‑scope activities, for reporting traditional services GHGs under the LGCAP. It also includes a Frequently Asked Questions section to help answer some common reporting uncertainties or specific scenarios.
• LGCAP Traditional Services Emissions Inventory Reporting Tool (XLSX, 48KB): This calculator allows local governments and Modern Treaty Nations which do not have their own tools or license a GHG reporting software to compile, calculate, and report annual greenhouse gas emissions from traditional services to meet their reporting requirements under LGCAP. Note: this tool is updated each reporting cycle and previous versions should not be used since the emissions factors are updated annually.
• LGCAP Scope Summary for Traditional Services GHG Emissions (PDF, 1.3MB): This summary table provides a quick overview of which emission sources are in scope and must be included in your traditional services GHG inventory and which sources are out-of-scope and should be omitted. For more comprehensive information on reporting traditional services GHGs under LGCAP, please refer to the LGCAP Traditional Services Boundaries and Scope Guidance (PDF, 1.1MB).
• LGCAP Contracted Services Emissions Guidance (PDF, 1.6MB): This document explains how to identify, categorize, and calculate GHGs associated with services delivered by external contractors on behalf of local governments and Modern Treaty Nations. 
• LGCAP Contracted Services Emissions Calculator (XLSX, 71.2KB): This is a structured calculator for estimating GHGs from contracted services using the methodologies and emission factors in the provincial guidance. Note: this tool is updated each reporting cycle and previous versions should not be used since the costs of diesel and gasoline are updated annually.
• B.C. Best Practices Methodology for Quantifying GHG Emissions (PDF, 1.2MB): This document provides standardized guidance and calculation methods for quantifying GHG emissions for B.C. local governments, Modern Treaty Nations, public sector organizations and community inventories.
• Emission Factors Catalogue (XLSX, 485.3KB): This spreadsheet compiles the GHG factors for energy consumed by mobile sources (used by fleets) and electricity and stationary sources (used by facilities) referenced in the B.C. Best Practices Methodology to support consistent emissions calculations across sectors and fuel types.