City Staff & Mayor present at Global Environment Forum

Edmonton was well represented at the Globe Forum 2022 held in Vancouver, March 29-31. The annual GLOBE Forum brings together Canada’s sustainability and climate leaders, changemakers and practitioners so that we can move farther, faster, together. People come to GLOBE Forum to connect with a world-class network of partners and investors, gain insights into the latest trends and best practices across sectors and regions, and learn from speakers and innovators who are leaders in their fields.

During the conference, Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi participated in a panel discussion: Giving Old Buildings New Life: Municipal Leadership in the Retrofit Economy with Tim Coldwell President, Chandos Construction, Tom-Pierre Frappé-Sénéclauze, Regional Director, B.C. Pembina Institute, and Doug Webber, Co-founder and Principal, Purpose Building.The panel discussed achieving net zero and one of the biggest challenges we face; decarbonizing what is already here: our built environment. This can be a complex, expensive endeavor, especially at the scale required to reach the City’s aggressive net zero emissions goal by 2050.

Edmonton’s Community Energy Transition Strategy and Action Plan set an aggressive target to be carbon neutral in the City’s corporate operations by 2040 and for the entire community to produce net zero GHG emissions by 2050. City buildings are responsible for nearly 50 per cent of the corporation's greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) so accelerated action in this area is essential to reaching those goals.

What we are doing

Some of the ways in which the City is working to achieve our net zero goals include:

• Helping homeowners improve the energy efficiency of their homes and generate renewable energy by providing financial incentives through the Home Energy Retrofit Accelerator Program and the Change Homes for Climate Solar Program.
• Reducing the emissions resulting from the operations of commercial and institutional buildings by providing financial incentives for energy efficient upgrades through the Building Energy Retrofit Accelerator (BERA) Program.
• Assisting building owners in measuring the energy performance of their buildings so that they can take steps to improve their energy efficiency through the Building Energy Benchmarking Program.
• Through the City’s Corporate Greenhouse Gas Management Plan, the City committed to reduce half of its corporate emissions by 2030. This includes procuring 100% renewable electricity for its operations and doing energy retrofits to existing buildings.
• The City’s Climate Resilience policy requires all new city owned buildings be emissions neutral. It also requires that 1% of the capital costs for new civic buildings is allocated to onsite renewable energy generation.

To learn more about programs available through the City and efforts you can make to help reduce climate change, visit our Programs page.