Through the powers conferred to them by the Act respecting land use planning and development (LAU), MRCs have significant powers in terms of regional transportation planning. With regard to climate issues and the direct impact of ground transportation on GHG emissions, land-use planning must take into account the emissions associated with the movement of residents and workers. Thus, the carbon profile of an entity such as the MRC Les Moulins depends on variants such as land use, density, travel modes and distances covered.
Considering this context, the MRC Les Moulins, through the government’s financial assistance program for the planning of sustainable living environments (PMVD), commissioned our team to produce a carbon footprint associated with transportation, and to develop a reduction strategy for the territory. This pioneering study, which gives GHGs a prominent place in the territorial planning process, is based on the Vivre en Ville approach (Climate planning version 1.0: integrating the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from transport into urban and regional planning)
Several analyses were carried out to provide input for discussions on the future organization of the MRC’s territory:
- The main characteristics of mobility (motorization, modal behaviors, origins and destinations, reasons for travel, recent and projected trends, etc.)
- The positioning and accessibility of the major transit generators;
- The identification of areas with the greatest potential for modal shift, based on travel distances;The intensity of GHG emissions for residents and work-based travel;
- The spatial intensity of GHG emissions within the territory, using a geographic segmentation approach;
- The identification of MRC sectors with high potential for GHG reduction;
- Etc.
The inclusion of the carbon profile in the MRC’s territorial planning process will eventually have an impact on local regulatory provisions, which in the coming decades will translate into concrete action on the development of living environments and citizens’ habits.