Speakers urge council to keep moving on carbon emissions

EDMONTON A sense of urgency is being felt by some Edmontonians as the city figures out how to get back on track to reduce carbon emissions to internationally acceptable levels.

The city’s executive committee voted Monday in favour of administration going back to revise the 2015 Community Energy Transition Strategy after it was learned the plan wouldn’t be enough to keep the global average temperature at a maximum 1.5 C increase.

Edmonton committed to the 1.5 C benchmark as part of its 2018 Edmonton Declaration.

If approved by council next week, city staff will have until the fall of 2020 to finish the revisions, with implementation expected to start by 2021.

The timeline has many residents concerned.

Chris Gusen, one of the dozens of speakers at Monday’s executive committee meeting, said he would like to see the deadline for the revision shortened to nine months.

“Every day we see terrifying headlines about wildfires in the Arctic, permafrost thawing 70 years earlier than predicted, and crop failures driven by increasingly unpredictable weather,” he said.

“Human activity has pushed Earth’s climate and ecological systems into uncharted territory. To put it simply, winning slowly is the same as losing.”

The U.N.’S Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change highlighted a maximum 1.5 C rise in global temperatures in 2018 as a target to minimize the consequences of climate change, such as rising ocean levels and food security.

David Dodge, co-chair of the Energy Transition Advisory Committee, said the committee supported the city going back to revise the strategy, but asked that interim reports be provided in the meantime.

“The urgency is growing to execute Edmonton’s energy transition plan,” he said.

“We cannot afford to hit pause as administration adjusts the energy transition plan to meet the 1.5-degree target. It’s crucial that actions continue and that we strategically implement aspects of the plan as they emerge, including integration into the city plan the carbon implications of every project that comes to council.”

Dodge noted 955 municipalities around the world have declared a climate emergency, but said this was well after Edmonton made its own declaration.

One of those municipalities that declared a climate emergency was Ottawa, which made the declaration in April.

Mayor Don Iveson said he’s open to the idea, but felt at this point it would simply be symbolic.

“I feel we have gone much further than that in recent years with the Edmonton Declaration, which has all of the urgency of a declaration of emergency,” he said.

“Symbolically, we’ve already recognized the urgency of it, and have done a lot more than a lot of other cities who have simply declared an emergency to take tangible action,” he added.

“I think today’s motion directs a lot of substantive action to occur, which responds to the urgency that we heard from the public.”

He said work will continue while revisions to the strategy are made.

He also said he plans to ask for interim reports when the motion comes to city council next week.