A disconnect between comments made by Edmonton’s city manager, city council and what the city’s data shows is a priority for Edmontonians and has some questioning climate-related items in the upcoming budget.
On Dec. 2, city manager Andre Corbould said in a city council budget meeting he didn’t think enough Edmontonians wanted to see climate-related projects funded in the 2023-2026 capital budget.
“What was a little concerning to me in the public hearing was that I didn’t sense we had the normalization of people coming to talk about climate change. Most of the people who came to talk about climate change, I really appreciated their comments but they were clearly climate people, climate action folks, advocacy folks and activists,” said Corbould.
“But what I think we need to do is hear like, a million Edmontonians talk about climate change and we’re just not there yet.”
Corbould did highlight a number of actions underway, like the installation of protected bike lanes, the expansion of the LRT and the planting of 2.6 million trees from 2015 to 2020.
The city has surveyed Edmontonians for six years on climate change and energy. Most recently, in summer of 2022 they asked 1,008 Edmontonians their thoughts on climate change action.
Seventy-five per cent of respondents agreed that the city needs to act now on climate change. Over the last six years, that number has been above 70 per cent.
The majority of respondents believe Edmontonians need to do more to help address climate change — 70 per cent, or more than 700 people.
When asked what the city should do to address climate change, nearly half of those surveyed said the city should be doing more and a quarter said to maintain efforts.
Jacob Komar is the chair of Edmonton’s Energy Transition Climate Resilience Committee. He said committee members were just as shocked as some of the councillors when they didn’t see much funding going towards climate-related projects.
“A lot of the councilors were elected on that promise. But somehow we didn’t see that from this budget. And so we have obviously questions of admin and why some of these items weren’t funded,” said Komar.
Unfunded items include improvements to active transportation infrastructure across the city, the creation of a shared use path on Saskatchewan Drive and funds to retrofit city buildings to be more energy efficient and climate resilient.
Komar pointed to the Yellowhead Trail expansion project, a widening which he said will cause more car traffic.
“That one item could pay for all of the energy efficiency items we’re talking about,” he said.
Komar also wondered if the Lewis Farms Recreation Centre was the most climate-friendly way to spend a big chunk of money.
“We’re building a rec center at the outskirts of town. We’ve been sprawling as a city, which we know financially is ruining us. The more we spread out, it’s tougher and tougher to keep up these operating costs,” said Komar.
Ward Métis councillor Ashley Salvador said she was surprised to hear that staff think there isn’t broad support for climate action.
“We are at the stage of our energy transition strategy where we are supposed to be rapidly and significantly scaling up climate action. It’s not good enough to just continue on with the status quo,” said Salvador.
“We need to see that scaling up and that’s what I’ll be looking for in the budget.”
Budget talks continue until Dec. 16.
In a statement on Dec. 5, Corbould clarified his comments on climate change.
“My remarks to city council were not as clear as they ought to have been. As a result it may have sounded like I was diminishing the climate crisis and the people who spoke about it. I was not, and I apologize for creating that impression.
“The reality is that a high percentage of Edmontonians are concerned about climate change.
“Our work on the carbon budget shows that there remains a significant gap between this community’s emissions and Edmonton’s local commitments and alignment with international ambitions to mitigate climate warming.”
The statement pointed to actions the city has already taken, including:
- Signing a contract to purchase 100 per cent of our energy requirements from green energy producers beginning in 2024, which will prevent a further 95,000 tonnes of carbon per year from entering the atmosphere.
- Working to reduce emissions, reduce energy use and conserve resources at existing city facilities by adding solar panels, managing rainwater and adjusting to the BOMA-Best certification standards.
- Building to net zero as is seen in the new Windermere firehouse.
- Actively electrifying our transit fleet to reduce our GHG emissions and piloting innovative technologies such as hydrogen buses.
- Implementing strategies like waste diversion, naturalization and growing our urban tree canopy to help with our mitigation efforts.
“Several climate transition and adaptation actions have been presented to council for their consideration as part of ongoing budget deliberations,” Corbould added.
“I look forward to implementing council’s direction when the budget is passed in the days ahead.”