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| On June 24, 2025, Maple Ridge Council endorsed its first-ever Climate Action Plan, Resilient Future 2050: Moving Boldly Toward Low-Carbon Resilience.
The plan outlines five key strategies—called “Bold Moves”—and 58 actionable steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enhance climate resilience, and support sustainable growth across the city. Over 80% of the actions are slated for implementation within five years (2025 - 2030).
Developed with extensive community input and backed by provincial funding, the plan includes updated sustainability targets, supports both rural and urban areas, and will be monitored through the City’s Community Scorecard. A cross-departmental Climate Action Team has been struck to manage and oversee implementation of the actions outlined in the plan and ensure alignment with existing projects at the city to maximize resource utilization.
The key result had three related initiatives that are all completed - multi-hazard risk and vulnerability assessment, extreme temperature risk mapping and analysis and development of the community climate action plan. | |
| A draft of the Green Infrastructure Design Guidelines was submitted by the consultant and reviewed by various City interest holders, with the final document expected by the end of December 2026.
By Q2 2027, staff expect the new design standards to be officially adopted. With adoption, the City will have achieved the following Green Infrastructure outcomes:
- Published comprehensive Green Infrastructure Design Guidelines for on-site and off-site applications.
- Incorporated design criteria, standard details, and specifications for five GI types into the Design Construction Documents (DCD).
- Clearly defined GI design submission requirements to support more consistent and efficient application review.
- Identified and published GI measures suitable for Maple Ridge, including site assessment and design considerations.
- Established standardized off-site GI design, sizing, and maintenance requirements and completed recommendations for related bylaw and DCD updates.
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| The plan to reduce reliance on natural gas has been completed. After a major energy audit and research by energy specialists the City now has a strategic energy management plan to guide investments and maximize efficiency of energy use across city facilities. Work on the solar project is still ongoing, and this will be tracked under a new key result to separate it from the master plan for reducing reliance on natural gas. | |
| Understanding how climate risks will impact residents and the work of the City is a priority. This project associated with this Key Result involved development of a framework that will help inform decision making and policy for the City into the future. Staff have developed a climate and resiliency lens and framework. They are now working to incorporate this at different levels of city procurement, operations and planning. | |
| Electrifying the City's fleet is one of many ways that the City can reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to meet the GHG reduction targets outlined in the Resilient Future 2050: Climate Action Plan. To date the City has converted 25 vehicles from traditional fuels to full electric or hybrid operations. There have been some delays to securing the medium duty trucks required for key areas of the City's operations due to market challenges in the EV manufacturing sector. The City will progressively include hybrid and EV vehicles as existing vehicles age out and market options are available. The first phase of building out the necessary charging infrastructure is complete with 20 EV chargers installed at the City's operations yard and Fire Hall 1 for use by the City fleet. Phase 2 is under construction and its pending upgrades to the BC Hydro electricity service. Substantial completion expected mid fourth quarter of 2026 with final completion of the project expected by the third quarter of 2027 due to lead time associated with securing inventory and undertaking the necessary site preparation and construction. This work has been supported by a federal grant from Natural Resources Canada aimed at promoting decarbonization of fuels nationwide. | |
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| Staff presented engagement findings from the Biodiversity Study to Council on September 22, 2026. Community and First Nations engagement identified strong support for source water protection, biodiversity conservation, and long-term ecosystem health, with participants emphasizing the importance of balancing future growth with protection of environmental and cultural values. Staff will return in 2027 with the final Biodiversity Study and implementation plan, including recommendations for integrating biodiversity objectives across City policies, programs, infrastructure and asset management, development processes, environmental protection initiatives, and long-term planning frameworks. | |
| The McKenney Creek Restoration and Enhancement Plan is complete, and Council approved moving forward with phased implementation on July 28, 2026. The Plan provides a long-term approach to improve the health of McKenney Creek. Further work, including monitoring, priority-setting, and identifying restoration opportunities, will continue through regular operations and future business planning. Any future studies, design, or capital projects will be considered through the City’s normal budget and approval processes. | |
| This key result has been met. The project associated with this key result undertook assessment of lands that were suitable for preservation of natural assets. In 2024 the City was able to identify and put in place protection for 9 hectares of land that will be conserved as a natural asset for the betterment of the community. | |
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Maple Ridge City Council has adopted the City’s first-ever Urban Forest Management Strategy, marking a significant milestone in its commitment to preserving and enhancing the city's diverse urban forest.
The Urban Forest Management Strategy (UFMS) outlines comprehensive measures to sustainably manage and expand Maple Ridge's vital green spaces and tree canopy in the context of urban development and climate challenges.
See Urban Forest Management Strategy | Maple Ridge, BC for further information and a copy of the final strategy.
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| In 2025 the City planted over 1800 new trees in 7 parks in Maple Ridge through grant funding and has continued to apply for more tree planting grants as they become available. In Fall 2025 - Spring 2026, over 1,500 new street trees will be planted in boulevards and in parks across Maple Ridge, focusing on areas of the City with low tree canopy. These new street trees are also part of a successful tree planting grant. | |
| Following a review of previous bylaws and policies a new Tree Protection and Management Bylaw was adopted by Council on May12, 2026 that is better aligned with the intent of the Urban Forest Management Strategy previously adopted by Council. Updates to this bylaw clarify two streams of regulation of trees in the community, one for residents and one for the development community to tailor the requirements to the different needs and impacts of these groups.
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| The City has completed 10 public emergency preparedness workshops so far this year. On November 25, the Climate Ready Conference will be held at the ACT Theatre, creating an opportunity for public collaboration and awareness of local emergency preparedness and climate mitigation initiatives.
A FireSmart Coordinator joined the City in August through UBCM CRI funding. Critical infrastructure and home wildfire mitigation assessments are now available to residents and businesses, and work to renew the Community Wildfire Resiliency Plan is scheduled to begin in October.
Since launching in May, the new Alertable notification system has grown its subscriber base by 35%, supported by ongoing City communications campaigns. The City is also reviewing possible upgrades to flood sensors and gauge infrastructure, including additional optical and video capabilities, to improve public flood-monitoring tools.
Renewed evacuation planning is underway, with digital evacuation maps and a mailed public guide planned as key project outcomes. | |
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| This project is focused on preparing a companion document to the community focused Resilient Future 2050: Community Climate Action Plan adopted by Council in 2025. This work now looks inward at the City to determine how we are "walking the talk" to ensure the City's approach to its work reflects the best possible approaches to maximize climate resilience and other considerations into our City operations.
As of the end of September 2026, work on drafting the Corporate Climate Action Plan is well underway. A Corporate GHG Inventory, a Climate Design Criteria Manual, and a Green Building Standards report have all been completed to inform the master plan. Corporate actions are expected to be concluded by November 2026. Department climate actions have been identified and are now being vetted by the department staff before finalizing the plan. | |