The CEP Crosswalk: A community energy planning tool for interdepartmental alignment and stakeholder engagement

Alexander L Macdonald,Michelle Adams,Cody Walter

doi:10.24908/cpp-apc.v2021i2.13930

Abstract

Community Energy Planning is a still-maturing practice that has great potential to help achieve climate goals, stimulate economic development, and realize health and social benefits. Community Energy Plans (CEPs) in Canada often encounter barriers to implementation that can be mitigated through use of decision support tools (QUEST, 2015). Planning tools are needed to help municipal staff improve the quality and quantity of stakeholder engagement during the CEP process, set priorities, and increase inter-departmental collaboration on climate and energy goals. In this paper, we present the Crosswalk Document, tool designed to support the Community Energy Planning process by identifying “points of contact” between the guiding policy documents of a given jurisdiction. We discuss the method used to construct the Crosswalk, and share insights from Community Energy practitioners at the Halifax Regional Municipality and the Town of Oakville who used it to the benefit their Community Energy Planning processes.   

Highlights

The IPCC (2018) has indicated that transformational change to the world’s energy systems will be required to limit the globe’s average warming to 1.5◦C above pre-industrial temperatures and avoid the worst effects of climate change
We propose that the Community energy plans (CEPs) Crosswalk tool can improve an integrated planning process such as developing a CEP by: providing a framework for stakeholder engagement and collaboration, help stakeholders identify shared values and common interests, help integrate climate and energy planning principles into the plans of multiple stakeholders, and reveal opportunities for new or ongoing collaboration on shared goals
A CEP Crosswalk document was completed for Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) in the winter of 2018/2019 by the authors, near the beginning of the planning process for HalifACT 2050

Summary

Introduction

The IPCC (2018) has indicated that transformational change to the world’s energy systems will be required to limit the globe’s average warming to 1.5◦C above pre-industrial temperatures and avoid the worst effects of climate change. Community energy plans (CEPs) are essential to understanding energy flows within a community, improving the efficiency of local service provision, and reducing the reliance on fossil fuels within community energy systems (Huang et al, 2014). A CEP pursues these objectives, and the overall long-term sustainability of a community’s energy system, through evaluation of land use planning and community design practices (Church & Ellis, n.d.) Community Energy Plans are typically developed by and for a local government or municipality in concert with utilities and major energy consumers (Gustaffson et al, 2015; St. Denis & Parker, 2009). A successful collaborative process engages fully with the local/municipal government (internal stakeholders) and with multiple community groups and higher orders of government (external stakeholders) to deliver key service types such as social welfare and environmental protections more sustainably.

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Conclusion