A new report shows Peel Region has a long way to go to reach carbon-neutrality, an international target needed to avoid catastrophic climate change.

The Atmospheric Fund (TAF) report uses carbon neutrality — meaning taking as much greenhouse gases (GHGs) out of the atmosphere as are produced — by 2050 as a long-term target, and tracked emissions across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) between 2015-2017.

While emissions rose in most regions covered in the 2016 report, Peel had the second highest rate of increase at 2.9 per cent over the previous year, or around 200,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tC02e), a measure that combines GHGs.

Bryan Purcell, TAF’s vice-president of policy and programs, said carbon emissions in Peel are trending downward but not significantly.

He said the region would need to move quickly to steadily reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

“Peel Region has to dramatically accelerate the pace of emissions reductions from what was achieved in 2015 to 2017,” he said. “There's a need to quintuple the pace of emission reductions and really get moving on it.”

Carbon neutrality, or net-zero emissions, is also what the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has called for by 2050 to avoid catastrophic global warming.

The TAF report said that to reach carbon neutrality across the GTHA, per capita emissions would need to fall an average of 8.2 per cent per year.

At an average of 7.5 tC02e per person, Peel’s per capita emissions are the second highest in the GTHA. Most Peel emissions come from fuel for vehicles and natural gas for heating buildings, the report said.

Purcell said retrofitting buildings to make them more carbon neutral is a “massive challenge and opportunity.” He also flagged a quicker transition to electric vehicles as a way reduce emissions in the region.