Our Mission
50 by 2030 Kingston is a campaign initiated by 350 Kingston with a simple-to-state but hard-to-accomplish goal:
To persuade Kingston’s Council to adopt the science based target of reducing our community wide and City of Kingston corporate GHG (Greenhouse Gas) emissions by at least 50% by 2030. According to the latest science, immediate and effective reductions in the 2020s are critical to keeping the global average temperature rise below 1.5oC.
Link to City Report re: feasibility of the 50 by 2030 target. Download our Posters Graph: Kingston vs Others
SIGN THE PETITION requesting adoption of this target: Link Download our BROCHURE.
Supporting Organizations
Kingston Youth Climate Action
About 50 by 2030 Kingston
In 2016 the Paris Accord the IPCC set a target of trying to limit global temperature rise this century to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
To stay below 1.5 °C of global warming, emissions need to be cut by roughly 50% by 2030. This is an aggregate of each country’s nationally determined contributions.
As a rich country that has benefited from our past emissions we should be more ambitious than this 50% global average reduction. A goal of 50% is a bare minimum starting point for our efforts.
Community Support for 50 by 2030 Kingston
Community members from Kingston share their endorsement of this campaign for a 50% emissions reduction target by 2030 in line with climate science and centring on social justice.
Mark Sibley,
Webmaster, 350 Kingston
Jerri Jerreat
350 Kingston Member
Congratulations 350 Kingston on the launch of your 50 by 2030 campaign. 50by30Waterloo Region celebrates the mobilization of grassroots organizations to demand that their local officials and municipal councils commit to a 50% reduction in GHG emissions by 2030. Climate action at the Federal and Provincial levels of government is falling far short of targets set for a safe-climate future by the IPCC.
Energy generation and growth plans in Ontario set us on a pathway to escalating emissions. It is up to the public to raise our voices to build awareness and urgency for a different future – one where we envision the well-being of our children, social justice, resilience, economic sustainability of our community, stabilization of our climate, and protection of biodiversity and our natural environment. 50by30Waterloo Region welcomes Kingston 50by30 to our joint efforts at the municipal level.
“This is a critical decade for climate action. It is increasingly clear that we must reach net-zero GHG emissions globally long before 2050 (and without relying on spurious accounting based on carbon offsetting). A 50% reduction in emissions by 2030 is entirely achievable and is considered by the UN to be the “new normal”. Given Canada’s historic contribution to climate change, and our status as a wealthy country, a 50% by 2030 target should be considered a bare minimum. Let’s lead the way in Kingston in both our ambition and our actions: adopting this target is not enough, but it is a good place to start.”
Dr Kyla Tienhaara, Canada Research Chair in Economy & Environment,
School of Environmental Studies & Department of Global Development Studies, Queen’s University
No Clearcuts Kingston! supports 50 by 2030 because the City must act much faster and more sincerely to cut emissions than it has since declaring a Climate Emergency. With increased local storms, floods, and more, token gestures and a low 30% emission cut just aren’t enough!
A recent study warned that Kingston will also be one of 15 Canadian communities most vulnerable to deadly extreme heat. The study recommended trees as a way of mitigating rising temperatures. One way the City can help keep citizens safer and cooler is to stop allowing the clearcuts we are seeing in most neighbourhoods!
We can no longer ignore the catastrophic events that are occurring across the globe as a result of climate change. There is a need for immediate action in order to protect the wildlife populations that inhabit the city’s beloved forests, wetlands and waters. Committing to 50 by 2030 will help protect those who cannot speak for themselves, particularly the various turtle species who are all listed as Species at Risk.
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“The time for serious bold action is now. Increasing floods, fires, and extreme heat issues are and will be increasingly problematic for Kingston and the entire world. Kingston has declared a Climate Emergency. Actions must align with that declaration. Kingston must reduce its GHG emissions to 50% by 2030.”
Mary Farrar
