Ville de Montréal – Bureau du développement durable: Montréal Sustainable Development Plan for 2016-2020

For more than 15 years, the Ville de Montréal has taken a “Together for a sustainable metropolis” approach, believing that the sustainable development they aspire to can only be achieved when all stakeholders are involved. Basically, the thinking goes, it takes a village to raise a Ville de Montréal; Without collective mobilization and a multiplication of actions and initiatives by the municipal administration as well as partner organizations and the entire community nothing can change in a meaningful and sustainable way.

Sustainable Montréal 2016-2020, the third sustainable development plan for the Montréal community, is the result of this exhaustive process of research, consultation and collective mobilization. There are 300 partner organizations, institutions, businesses, non-profit organizations, representatives of central services and local administrations and more all viewed as partners in the effort to create a low-carbon, equitable and exemplary Montréal.

Measures baked into the Sustainable Montréal Plan 2016-2020 include;

  • reducing Montréal’s GHG emissions by 30% by 2020, compared to 1990, and 80% by 2050.;
  • reaching a 55% modal share for morning rush-hour travel on foot, bicycle and transit by 2021.
  • increasing the canopy cover from 20 to 25% by 2025.;
  • In the medium term, increasing land protected areas to 10% of the territory.;
  • meeting governmental recovery objectives for recyclable material (70%) and organic materials (60%) by 2020.

The 2016-2020 Plan will help the city meet the targets established by various city planning exercises and will continue the efforts begun as part of the Montréal Community Sustainable Development Plan 2010-2015. Together, these measures, combined with contributions from the community and actions of the municipal administration and other levels of government are designed to achieve the collective targets that have been set and there’s an impressive track record here.

In 2015, the Ville de Montréal had 18 fully electric vehicles. Two years later, in 2017, there were 129, the plan being to reach 230 vehicles, by the end of 2018. A plan to reach 1,000 on-street electric charging stations across Ville de Montréal led to 402 on-street charging stations for electric vehicles in 2017.  The next target is 602 by the end of 2018.

The city planned to add 270 km to the bicycle route network by 2020 compared to 2015 and as a result, Montréal is one of the cities in North America where cycling has the largest modal share for travel. The Montréal cycling network was nearly 852.6 km at the end of 2017. A plan to institute organic waste collection in 100% of the city’s buildings with eight or fewer dwellings has already achieved organic waste collection service to 409,323 households, representing 76% of buildings with 8 or fewer units (537,734 households).

Plans to increase the modal share of foot travel are now afoot. Bicycle and transit —   electrified and optimized — use is to be increased and goals and plans to get Montréal there are in motion.

The goal of Sustainable Montréal 2016-2020 is highly ambitious; To allow the citizens of Ville de Montréal to benefit from living in a prosperous, innovative, environmentally conscious city, a city that applies the principles of responsible mobility and land development, that is equitable and in solidarity displays its cultural identity and heritage and they’ve drawn up a clear and concise map to get everyone there.