Federal government announces $8M in funding for green initiatives in N.W.T.

A month after an alarming report on climate change was released which found Canada is warming at twice the global rate, and three times the global rate in the north, the federal government is committing $8 million in funding to support green initiatives in the Northwest Territories.

The federal government announced on Friday that it will be providing the funding through its Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund to the Northwest Territories’ Greenhouse Gas Grant Program for Buildings and Industry.

According to a news release issued by the government, the program will “support projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions from heating, electricity, transportation, and industrial processes,” and will lower the upfront cost of energy-efficiency retrofits like space heating boiler and district heating systems.

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The government of the Northwest Territories will be focusing on climate action that reduces emissions in the industrial sector, which is one of the primary emissions sources in the territory, the release says.

“We are taking real action on climate change through renewable energy, fuel substitution, and energy efficiency retrofits for our territory’s industrial and commercial sectors,” Northwest Territories MP Michael McLeod said in a the release.

The report released last month by Environment and Climate Change Canada also found the warming is “effectively irreversible,” and is happening even faster in the winter, leaving southern Canadians with more winter rainfall and northern Canadians with melting permafrost and less sea ice.

“People in the Northwest Territories are feeling the impacts of climate change in their communities,” the release reads. “Canadians want to fight climate change, to be part of the solution, which is why Canada and the Northwest Territories are working together to reduce pollution, create good jobs, and support healthy communities.”

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Wally Schumann, minister of infrastructure and industry, tourism and investment for the government of the Northwest Territories, says the announcement will enable the territory to transition to a “strong, healthy economy that is less dependent on fossil fuels.”

-With a file from The Canadian Press