Nearly four years later, and multiple efforts to clarify, some councillors are still trotting out the misinformed $87 billion climate emergency declaration cost for a sound bite.

It happened once again during Tuesday’s Executive Committee meeting as councillors discussed the Clean Energy Investment Program (which was given preliminary approval).

Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean, who opposed the borrowing of cash to expand one program and create another for commercial users, saying that the City of Calgary isn’t a bank, tacked on a reference to the climate strategy.

“We can talk about borrowing, or this is covered by this, or covered by that. (Calgarians) do know that we declared a climate change emergency at the beginning? Yeah, I didn’t vote for it. Or the $87 billion climate action plan that kind of is embedded and maybe endorsed, a lot of this stems from and cost people money. At the end of the day, this isn’t free,” McLean said.

On many climate-related policies brought to council, McLean raises the factually incorrect $87 billion climate change strategy. 

In the climate strategy document from 2022, it states in a pullout box on page 17 that the “Total cumulative investment for the net zero scenario is estimated at $87.89 billion by 2050.”

Before that, the document is very clear about how the figure is derived.

“The cost of the modelled pathway represents the capital investment needed across all governments, industry, businesses, organizations and individuals to get to net zero, and is modelled in 2022 dollars,” the document reads.

It’s not an $87 billion City of Calgary-funded climate action plan.

Last week, Ward 8 Coun. Courtney Walcott put forward a potential third-party review of misinformation, disinformation and malinformation and its impact on City of Calgary finances and operations.

Under the definitions Walcott used, McLean’s use of the $87 billion figure could potentially be seen as disinformation or malinformation.

Calgary climate plan would sap annual budget through 2050

During the debate, Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek asked questions of administration.

“Miss (Carolyn) Bowen, does the city have a Climate Action Plan of $87 billion,” the mayor queried.

Bowen, the director of climate and environment with the City of Calgary, was direct in her response.

“No, we do not,” she said.

The mayor asked why people think that there is.

“That number was used in the presentation when we were presenting the strategy to give an idea of the magnitude of the problem, of the crisis, of the challenge every city has come up with, a cost of moving to 2050 through the energy transition, and it’s driven by the market. It’s driven by changes,” she said.

“This number does keep coming up, but it is not an $87 billion plan.”

Mayor Gondek asked Chief Financial Officer Les Tochor how the City of Calgary would come up with $87 billion for a climate plan.   The City of Calgary’s budget is between $4 billion and $5 billion annually. To achieve an $87 billion strategy by 2050, it would require all or most of those budgeted funds.

“We would have a challenge,” he said.

Mayor Gondek agreed with the prior statement from Coun. McLean that we are servants of the public.

“I agree with that, and as servants of the public, it’s incredibly important for us to report information correctly,” she said.

Outside council chambers, McLean stuck with the $87 billion fallacy.  He said he remembered voting on the plan.

“I know it’s not in our budget, but all the climate, the climate emergency, of the declaration, and everything that we do… has to be looked through that lens,” he said.

“That action plan, that is the cost that they said it would cost society, or even individuals of (the) city if we were to implement all of their suggestions, their recommendations.”