For those communities that cannot find the additional funds in their budget, you could narrow the scope of any modelling or forgo it entirely and still produce a solid set of actions.
Building on its history of taking action on climate change and its vision to become the Greenest City in the world, the City of Vancouver set a bold new target to source all of its energy from 100% renewable energy sources by 2050. This commitment and the strategic approaches are outlined in the City’s Renewable Energy Strategy. The Strategy was adopted in November 2015 and builds upon the Greenest City by 2020 Action Plan, which sets a goal for the City to eliminate dependence on fossil fuels and commits the City to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by at least 80% below 2007 levels before 2050. The Renewable Energy Strategy also complements a number of other documents that guide the City’s vison, such as: Transportation 2040, Vancouver Economic Action Strategy, and Healthy City Strategy.
In 2015, the City’s emissions were 2.8 million tonnes of CO2, one of the lowest GHG emissions per person in North America. In addition, at the time when the Renewable Energy Strategy was adopted, the City derived 31% of its energy use from renewable sources for its building and transportation needs and 90% of its electricity comes from hydro power, setting Vancouver ahead of the curve to achieving its renewable energy target.
The City of Vancouver’s Renewable Energy Strategy relies on three main strategic approaches to achieve the target of powering the city entirely with renewable energy:
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Reduce energy use through policies that, for example, increase building insulation requirements, improve transit, walking and cycling networks, etc.
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Increase the use of renewable energy by supporting, for example, adoption of electric vehicles, increased use of Neighborhood Energy Utilities, etc.
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Increase the supply of renewable energy through increased supply of other energy sources such as rooftop solar power generation, biofuels for transportation, etc.
In 2017, the City developed an action plan to make this target a reality. The Renewable City Action Plan outlines a 10-year roadmap and identifies 77 actions that would tackle emissions from buildings, transportation and waste. The action steps were informed by the findings from an economic modeling study that estimated building and transportation energy needs in Vancouver, the two sectors that account for the majority of Vancouver’s GHG emissions. The City will focus on energy needs related to areas where they have regulatory authority such as in building codes, land use, licensing, and permitting and bylaw enforcement. In areas outside of its regulatory domain, the City will advocate and build strong partnerships to achieve this target.
In its own operations, the City of Vancouver has committed to using a range of strategies that will ensure the City leads by example, including developing a comprehensive approach to pricing carbon emissions for municipal operations. The City will also be exploring ways to use its purchasing power to support the adoption of renewable energy and to use its business licensing and permitting authority to support the market adoption of renewable energy for activities undertaken within the city.
Achieving the goal will help the City save money, lead to cleaner air and a healthier environment, and strengthen Vancouver’s economy. The City is a firm believer that acting now on climate change will help reduce costs long-term by avoiding more severe climate impacts and the need for costly infrastructure and adaptation measures. The City will see long-term cost savings with more efficient use of energy and reduced energy consumption. To support the transition, the City will be exploring multiple funding mechanisms. This includes the use of traditional financing mechanisms that can be applied to non-traditional technologies, feed-in tariffs to support the increase of wind and solar power generation, 
