A local environment group is going after the City of Windsor stating that the government is failing to be accountable for its environmental and climate action commitments.
The Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario is stating concerns with the fact that public reports that speak on climate data have been delayed, or aren't available to the public at all.
Derek Coronado, the coordinator with the environmental group, says some reports have not been released such as the 2023 greenhouse gas emission inventory, the emission targets and net-zero implementation plan hasn't been presented, and the final report of the Sandwich South Sustainable Neighbourhood Action Plan was delayed.
Coronado adds that consultation and communication with the public about climate action has essentially stopped, adding that the city doesn't update its website to communicate environmental and climate actions.
He says some reports haven't been updated in years.
"Greenhouse gas emission inventory, they're supposed to be producing those annually, yet the 2023 emission inventory still hasn't been released. So all these commitments are falling by the wayside, so it seems like the city is purposely stalling on these commitments."
Coronado says there's been no movement on the Environmental Master Plan.
"The city committed to being a leader in its actions on the environmental front, and that would include climate action, yet we see the city backing away from taking action, even as part of its own plan. So, one wonders what constitutes a leader, and what their definition of a leader is if they're not moving forward on their own plan."
He says in 2022 the city committed to science based emissions targets with a net-zero target by 2050.
"Then they said that in 2023 they would present an implementation plan for that, and that was two years ago now, we still haven't seen the implementation plans. So, commitments are made, and then nothing happens, and there's no follow through."
Coronado says the credibility factor for the city is crumbling the longer they take to implement environmental actions.
He adds that the climate crisis is an existential threat to the country as a whole, and it needs to be taken seriously.
He says he wants to see added resources to the environmental portfolio in the city to help keep the public informed.
-with files from AM800's The Shift with Patty Handysides