Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said that everyone, including cities, must pay attention to what’s happening with the climate and environment so steps can be taken to mitigate the impact.

The mayor made the comments before the opening of the 2024 Calgary Climate Symposium at the Central Library Monday morning, where guests will discuss climate hazards and their impact on cities, how Calgary can embrace a low carbon future and how communities can unite to lessen climate impact and boost local resilience.

Mayor Gondek said that just a few months ago we had baseball-sized hail in a storm, thousands of Jasper wildfire evacuees in Calgary due to a wildfire, and a year or so removed from Northwest Territories wildfire evacuees.

“These are real things that are occurring, and we need to make sure we are taking steps to keep our homes more resilient and to take any action that we can to mitigate climate change,” she told reporters just before the start of the week-long event (Oct. 21 to 25).

 Mayor Gondek said that the city is doing its part by improving the energy efficiency in buildings by completing retrofits and offering Calgarians the opportunity to participate in the Clean Energy Improvement Program (CEIP). This allows citizens to take out a loan from the city and pay it back over time through their property tax bill.

Intake for the CEIP opens once again on Nov. 5.

The mayor also noted that the downtown office conversion program saves buildings from teardown and landfill but also gives more Calgarians the chance to live in a condensed area, decreasing their own footprint.

“We really want to make sure that we are leading by example as a city, and that we are also allowing Calgarians to participate to create greater equity,” the mayor said.

The $87 billion misinformation and other barriers

Mayor Gondek said one area where there will be more evolution is in the City of Calgary’s fleet – from trucks to buses – including a plan to eventually go to electric battery buses. 

The City’s electric shuttle bus pilot project has been marred by delays due to the manufacturer being unable to fulfill the order. The City of Calgary has since put up another request for proposals to add electric buses to the fleet.

Further, the City is examining more data on the impact of EV buses on roads. Last week, city councillors heard that many roads that will see heavier EV traffic could have an additional 10 mm of pavement required to manage the additional wear.

As far as the continued erroneous reporting around $87 billion needed due to the City of Calgary declaring a climate emergency, Mayor Gondek said that Calgary doesn’t have $87 billion to spend on anything.

“I think there are some people in the population that would like to believe we’ve somehow got $87 billion that we can spend on anything.  We don’t,” she said.  

“The point of the report was to indicate how much we need to invest to make sure we are going to be resilient into the future.”

Further, at the upcoming United Conservative Party annual general meeting, a resolution has been put forward to eliminate net-zero targets and not to consider CO2 as a pollutant.

Mayor Gondek said that Alberta is continuing to lead the way in delivering cleaner energy that reduces carbon emissions.

“I would say that one of the things we need to stay focused on in our city is the fact that we provide a very safe and secure energy supply to the world, and in order to do that, we are reliant on oil and gas,” she said.

“However, the way we are producing energy and the way we’re producing electricity has evolved and changed over time. We’re making sure we’re capturing carbon, we’re trying to figure out ways we can utilize it, and we’re trying to figure out ways that we can store it. So, our emissions have gone down over time, and they will continue to go down.”

Mayor Gondek said overall the goal of the Calgary Climate Symposium was to have discussions around a plan on what to do next if the climate situation worsens, including the impact on food security and on affordability.

“It’s human beings that you’re looking out for, and it’s the public that we serve,” she said.

“So, we need to be taking these conversations seriously.”