Where we are: As we have seen from the impacts of more severe weather and natural disasters, Calgary is not immune to the effects of climate change. Extreme and dangerous flooding, hail, heat waves, and cold/snow events have all increased in our failure to act on the climate crisis. Our plans for climate resilience and tackling the climate crisis cannot just be empty strategies without concrete timelines, incentives, and meaningful and diverse measures of accountability.
Where we can go, together: The time to take bold action addressing climate change is now. The next Council must continue to support and advance The City’s Climate Resilience Strategy, apply and encourage stronger adaptation and mitigation efforts, and most importantly, stop subsidizing sprawl if we are to achieve our goals on climate change.
Social: Designing our city must be done with the next 50 years in mind, not the last 50. Calgarians want a plan for a city that is sustainable for generations to come. In doing so, we recognize that there are solutions and there is opportunity. This future forward thinking and design should give every Calgarian the tools to do their own part in fighting our climate crisis. We do this by embracing diverse transportation options; retrofitting publicly owned buildings with sustainable technologies for community use; maintenance, nurturing, and expansion of our urban forest; and most importantly, limiting sprawl and enhancing our established communities rather than spreading our city thin.
Economical: Calgary is a city where people of all ages, backgrounds, and experiences can come together to tackle big challenges. Coalitions of stakeholders must be brought together to work on our goals of climate resilience. Community members young and old, small and big businesses, developers, and other orders of government, all need to be involved if we are to achieve a sustainable future for Calgary. The reality is, climate change effects impact and threaten all of us, so it takes all of us to achieve resilience.
Through these efforts, we will lead with a strong climate response that will only make our economy stronger and more reliable. This will ensure our students, workforce and businesses can meet climate challenges with innovation and vision and will help protect our economy from the boom and bust cycles that have haunted us.
Environmental: We must be courageous and reimagine public places with inclusive active transportation options, including pedestrian and cycling infrastructure for the health and wellness of us and our planet. I will fight for a city that: sets and achieves reductions to greenhouse gas emissions and the city’s carbon footprint; invests in electric vehicle infrastructure; and provides all Calgarians with the tools needed to reduce their own emissions to zero.
Actions:
- Ensure all active climate and environment city programs are expanded to include condominiums and apartments, and to guarantee all future programs will include these housing options from day one.
- Prioritize funding for actions, policies, and incentives that meaningfully contribute to meeting The City’s environmental protection, sustainability and climate resilience goals and targets outlined by the Climate Resilience Strategy, Municipal Development Plan, Calgary Transportation Plan, and other related strategic plans.
- Establish regular monitoring and reporting of progress, and accountability and transparency of work done to advance climate resilience.
- Establish higher environmental standards and regulations for development and redevelopment.
- Investigate and incentivize development using green, low-energy, and renewable/sustainable materials for buildings, and enable renewable energy systems to power those buildings.
- Retrofit all publicly owned buildings with renewable energy infrastructure and energy efficiency improvements where possible.
- Set Emission Reduction Targets for Enmax that cascade toward the goal of Net Zero Emissions by 2035.
- Transitioning all Calgary Transit vehicles to zero emission models by gradually replacing existing vehicles at the end of their lifecycle.
- Support City emissions reduction goals via procurement of renewable energy sources to power all City-owned and operated facilities and infrastructure, including Calgary Transit.
- Investigate and implement a municipal Clean Energy Improvement Program as used in other municipalities (i.e., Okotoks) to provide Calgarians with the tools to meet our emissions reduction targets.
- Continue to advocate for extreme weather mitigation funding from Provincial and Federal governments, such as flood mitigation along the Elbow River.
- Electric vehicle charging infrastructure: fast chargers, investigate and implement guidelines for electric vehicle parking infrastructure, alongside future legislation by the federal government.