Climate Action: Together

I’m passionate about climate actions - both to reduce emissions and help make Edmonton resilient to future climate changes. The Community Energy Transition Strategy (click for info) and a recent report presented to the Executive Committee on June 15th highlight that we need to take urgent action.

The report highlighted that WITHOUT any action taken on climate change, the direct annual COSTS to the City will be approximately $1.0 billion by the 2050s, and $4.1 billion by the 2080s. 

Examples of direct costs as a result of climate change include:

• repair costs to infrastructure due to climate related deterioration and damage (e.g. roads/potholes, vehicles, buildings, etc.), 

• economic loss and costs due to supply chain disruptions due to climate (e.g. increased costs for construction materials), 

• cost increases in goods and services (e.g. increased clean water management costs, increases in food costs due to climate impacts on agriculture/farming/soil conditions)

• disaster relief efforts (e.g., more activations of extreme weather protocols) 

The report noted that according to the United Nations, “for every dollar invested in climate-resilient infrastructure, six dollars can be saved.” That’s a 6 to 1 return on investment! 

Several reports have identified that Edmonton has one of the highest per person greenhouse gas emissions rates in the world. The targets set out in the Community Energy Transition Strategy seek to change that. The strategy includes goals to see a “35% reduction in community emissions by 2025 and 50% reduction in community emissions by 2030 from 2005 levels.”  

Everyone is affected by climate change yet, we need to acknowledge that vulnerable communities and populations will be disproportionately impacted. As well, we don’t all have the same capacity to address climate change (e.g., food choices, retrofits, etc). 

Moving forward, I believe we can learn from our past. We can take bold action to reduce our fossil fuel emissions. We can transition to a greener, cleaner economy. And we can mitigate the social, environmental and economic impacts to create a better path forward. We can take action NOW. 

Let’s take climate action together. What steps do you want to see the City take to address climate change?