Surrey Board of Education receives update on district efforts to reach carbon neutrality

Surrey Schools continues to reduce its carbon emissions through upgrades to existing schools, environmentally conscious new school designs and energy efficiencies with district vehicles and decreased paper usage.

David McKee, manager of Energy Management & Sustainability, presented an update to the latest Climate Change Accountability Report at last week's Surrey Board of Education public meeting, showcasing the district's ongoing efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. He noted the three sources of GHGs are buildings (making up 91% of the district's emissions), district vehicles (6%) and paper (3%), which saw fluctuations in 2020 due to the pandemic.

"If you look at the numbers relative to 2019, the impact of COVID is quite clear," he said. "For buildings, because they use a lot of natural gas, the increased ventilation requirements have pushed up our emissions 5% because we're bringing in more outside air. The fleet is down 6% because there were less call outs and less snow in 2020, and paper, not surprisingly, is down a substantial amount because there were fewer classes and there was online learning."

While the district has made strides in reducing emissions, McKee said there remain challenges with limited capital available to retrofit more than 100 district buildings. He said the district had an internal target to reduce emissions by 25% by 2020, of which 19% was achieved. Internal targets for 2025 and 2030 are being developed.

From 2012 to 2015, the district saw sharp decreases in GHG emissions, nearing the provincial government's 2030 reduction target. While emissions have steadily increased since 2015, McKee said some recent increases are partly attributed to colder winters, and there are still opportunities to find energy efficiencies and reach the provincial target.

"We're working on trying to specify the types of projects that are likely to occur over the next five to 10 years to see how realistic that is and where to put in more effort," he said.

Recent additional energy efficiencies include the installation of four electric vehicle chargers at the District Education Centre and print management technology to reduce paper use at the District Facilities Centre. Future initiatives include two electric school buses and chargers for spring 2022, centralized printing at more sites, digital teaching options and more paperless administrative processes.

McKee also highlighted ongoing increases to the carbon tax as an additional incentive for the district to find efficiencies.

Trustee Gary Tymoschuk acknowledged the district's progress towards the provincial target but noted the sheer number of projects may require more funding from other levels of government.

"It seems to me that the provincial and federal governments are going to have to provide more money to districts and organizations like ours that don't have the ability to raise funds to accommodate all of these retrofits and changes we must make," he said. "I know we can and we are doing lots, but it seems to me there's a lot more that needs to be done that I think we need financial assistance for."

Trustee Bob Holmes echoed Tymoschuk's comments, adding it is a challenge to reduce emissions and minimize the district's cost for offset credits and to the carbon tax without sufficient funding for upgrades, new schools or portables that are needed while the district awaits new classroom space.

"We pay for those portables, we pay extra money to heat those portables, and it adds to our footprint, which we get taxed on through the carbon tax, all because we don't have enough schools," he said. "Now we're finally making some progress over the last few years, which has been great, but it's still a frustration to me that Surrey gets penalized more than other districts do simply because of our size and our growth."

For more information, view the 2020 Climate Change Accountability Report.