Monitor & Report
Monitor and report on CEP implementation
Based on research from the GTI initiative, 90
Monitoring and reporting on implementation can unlock significant opportunities to build ongoing support among elected officials, staff and community stakeholders. Precise, measurable and defensible data, when presented on an ongoing basis, can increase the overall confidence and support of senior decision makers. When the CEP is monitored on an annual basis, successes can be celebrated which can
Measuring Primary and Secondary Key Performance Indicators
CEPs typically contain primary and secondary Key Performance Indicators.
Primary Key Performance Indicators: Energy
- Communities should undertake to renew energy and GHG inventories on an annual basis
- The Federation of Canadian Municipalities offers a Framework for monitoring energy and GHG emissions. See the Guidelines for Monitoring, Reporting and Verifying Progress http://www.fcm.ca/Documents/reports/PCP/Monitoring_Reporting_and_Verification_Guidelines_EN.pdf
Secondary Key Performance Indicators: Other Key Performance Indicators
- Secondary Key Performance Indicators are typically much broader than energy and GHGs however they are strongly linked
- They often include items such as
number of home energy efficiency retrofits conducted, kilometres of bicycle lanes constructed, and tonnes of organic solid waste diverted from landfill - Secondary Key Performance Indicators should also include financial/economic indicators
- Consider the following matrix for determining KPIs
- Examples of secondary Key Performance Indicators can be found in the following CEPs:
- See Part III – Implementation Framework – in the City of Campbell River, British Columbia Community Energy and Emissions Plan: https://www.campbellriver.ca/planning-building-development/green-city/climate-action/community-energy-emissions-plan
- See Part 3 – Implementation & Monitoring in the City of Surrey, British Columbia, Community Energy and Emissions Plan: https://www.surrey.ca/files/CommunityEnergyEmissionsPlan.pdf
- See the indicators embedded throughout the City of Brandon, Manitoba Environmental Strategic Plan http://www.brandon.ca/images/pdf/adminReports/environmentalPlan.pdf
Table 12 illustrates the steps to consider for developing, monitoring and reporting on energy and GHG targets and other Key Performance Indicators.
Table 12: Steps and Considerations for Monitoring and Reporting CEP Implementation
Step | Considerations |
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Identify Key Performance Indicators to monitor the impacts of the CEP |
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Determine a rigorous and consistent methodology for measuring progress |
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Determine the frequency of monitoring Key Performance Indicators |
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Determine the frequency of implementation progress reports Highlight successes! |
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Don’t forget to include success stories from community stakeholders |
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Follow-up Energy and GHG Inventories in Small Communities
Insights on Measuring Implementation
GTI research has identified that there are many ways to measure CEP implementation. Some approaches include:
- Measuring reductions in community-wide energy or GHG emissions: If energy and GHGs are falling in a community, the CEP is effectively being implemented. Note that federal, provincial/territorial policies, economic transitions and other external factors often play a role in overall GHG emissions
- Measuring secondary Key Performance Indicators: The effectiveness of a CEP can be measured by the extent to which secondary Key Performance Indicators are achieved. Secondary indicators include indicators that are related to overall energy consumption (e.g. reduction in energy spending, number of jobs created, reduction in vehicle
kilometers traveled , shifts in mode splits, energy efficiency retrofits, or increased waste diversion rates) - Tracking the number of actions completed in a CEP: While this is a rudimentary approach to measuring the impacts of implementation, it can signal the extent to which local government processes are supportive of implementation
- Assessing Implementation Readiness: The Community Energy Implementation Readiness Survey enables a community to assess the extent to which conditions are in place to support ongoing implementation
Case Studies
Case Study 16
Monitoring and Reporting on Implementation Progress in the City of Guelph, Ontario
CEP reporting is coordinated annually by the Community Energy division of the Business Development and Enterprise department, and presented to the Corporate Administration, Finance & Enterprise Committee (this Committee is appointed by Council and made up of Councillors). A dashboard is used to display progress within eight key activity categories, plus a description of the status for each individual activity.
See the Guelph Community Energy Plan here.
Case Study 17
Monitoring and Reporting on CEP Implementation in the City of London, Ontario
The City of London Community Energy Action Plan (CEAP) was adopted in 2014. Alongside the plan, the City of London developed a background document describing a methodology for monitoring and reporting on community energy use. The background document describes a methodology for developing annual energy and emissions inventories. The document describes how the City of London will also work with stakeholders to develop new Key Performance Indicators, including economic, transportation, and energy performance indicators. The results from energy and emissions inventories, and other Key Performance Indicators will be included in an annual progress report outlining implementation progress of the CEAP.90