Council Approves Path Towards A More Sustainable, Resilient Richmond Hill

RICHMOND HILL – Richmond Hill Council has approved an update to the City’s 2014 Environment Strategy, Greening the Hill: Our Community, Our Future reiterating its commitment to balancing growth and green.

The Environment Strategy update, which was developed with help from the community, builds on our successes and brings a stronger lens to how we can all work together to protect our environment as the city grows and climate change impacts intensify. The original Strategy’s vision and mission continue, with minor updates to improve clarity.

• Vision – Richmond Hill: a community that protects, enhances and restores its natural environment
• Mission – To achieve our vision by engaging and inspiring residents, leading by example and encouraging sustainable growth

Our focus will also shift from what we want to protect, enhance and restore, to how we can protect, enhance and restore our local environment. 

The updated Strategy is guided by three key principles: Greening our Consumption, Greening our Natural Spaces and Greening our Growth. These principles are applied throughout the Strategy within 10 interrelated and complementary themes, each with its own goals, objectives and actions:

• Energy
• Transportation
• Water Quality and Quantity
• Water Conservation
• Sustainable Land Development
• Natural Heritage and Urban Forest
• Invasive Species
• Wildlife
• Local Food and Pollinators 
• Waste

The original Environment Strategy was based on a 15+ year time horizon and has already seen more than 50 of the 95 actions initiated, completed or established as “ongoing”. The Strategy update will help guide Richmond Hill’s efforts to manage its environmental impacts, enhance local ecosystems, and create a more sustainable community over the next nine years. Implementation progress will be reported annually, beginning in 2023.

For more information, visit RichmondHill.ca/Greening. 

QUOTE

“Our City and our community care deeply about the amazing natural environment that surrounds us and together we’ve made great strides in doing our part to protect it. Our Greening the Hill Environment Strategy update will build on the incredible work we’ve done together locally in Richmond Hill and help make our community more resilient to climate change. I look forward to continuing this important work and invite everyone to join us. ” – Mayor David West

MEDIA CONTACT
Ash O’Malley, Communications Advisor
ash.omalley@richmondhill.ca