Lambton County staff will identify a process to create a climate change adaptation and implementation strategy.
During Wednesday's council meeting, councillors passed a motion brought forward by Brian White.
The councillor said it's an opportunity for the county to follow the City of Sarnia's climate action plan, which was passed last November.
"I don't think there is much, honestly, to do differently," said White. "The environmental advisory committee for the City of Sarnia is prepared and willing to work with the county to adapt and perhaps modify the plan if the county council sees fit." White said the city's plan took a few years to accomplish and that it followed council's declaration of a climate change emergency in June of 2019.
White said his motion is about identifying policies that were already being implemented but were in some ways, stand-alone policies.
"An implementation strategy such as this identifies not only mitigation -- which I think is what most of us think about when we're talking about climate change -- but the actual adaptation too. So, identifying storm sewers, drainage issues, things that where the hundred-year storm is now becoming every couple of years."
County Infrastructure & Development Services General Manager Jason Cole was asked about the county's sustainability plan.
"I will acknowledge that the program and the study [and] the work that the city did goes well beyond what I think those sustainability plans had built as a base. [The city's plan] brought those actions up to another level."
Cultural Services General Manager Andrew Meyer said the county does have a Going Green committee, similar to the environmental advisory committee with the city.
"The committee is looking at undertaking the initial phase the city undertook -- the audit process -- to really understand where we stand on the climate adaptation maturity scale, looking at policies, current actions and opportunities that could be missed."
Meyer said the county currently does not have a climate action mitigation strategy and that it's something they're proactively looking at.
White said the plan creates actionable items with an opportunity to remain accountable.
"So these are things that can be easily identified and have been identified in the city's plan itself. And it doesn't discount the work that is already being done, if anything it just creates a slightly bigger umbrella to overarch and bring some of these items together."
