Calgary city council is set to review two competing motions, both calling for the city’s climate emergency declaration to be rescinded

The motions, one from Ward 14 Coun. Landon Johnston and the other from Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot, take aim at the controversial language around Calgary’s climate emergency declaration, while Chabot’s takes it a few steps further.

Calgary’s climate emergency declaration was one of the first acts approved by the prior city council under former Mayor Jyoti Gondek and has since been a source of derision by members of the public. It’s faced criticism largely due to a misstep by city administration in not clearly defining an $87-billion mention when the climate strategy was first delivered.

“Whereas the declaration of a “Climate Emergency” has been criticized as largely symbolic, while committing The City to significant long-term expenditures and organizational changes, without corresponding clarity on measurable benefits or alignment with core municipal responsibilities,” reads Chabot’s motion.

Along with the end to the climate emergency declaration, Chabot’s motion is also asking for a full accounting of climate-related expenditures since 2021, an assessment of those spending outcomes based on council jurisdiction and priorities, potential cost savings, duplications and expenditures, and recommendations on how core municipal responsibilities can be better aligned with climate spending.

To start, Chabot said the word emergency just doesn’t sit right with him.

“Just the word emergency in itself implies that the city then will do everything in its power to eliminate the cause,” he told LWC.

“And whereas I think we should be focused more on mitigation, adaptation, not elimination, and emergency wise, elimination, and that’s the biggest issue I have with this, because we’re not going to be able to do eliminate climate change no matter what we do in a city.”

Chabot’s motion outlines the 2025 budget of $26 million in base operating costs, along with $22 million in one-time operating programs. There’s also $22.7 million in capital spending. It also notes the $214.6 million in climate-related capital spending across all departments in 2026.

Remove the ‘dark cloud’: Coun. Johnston

Coun. Johnston said his differs from Chabot’s in that he just wants the declaration removed. He said he’s already done the business unit audit on his own.

“I went through contracts, applications, worked with the administration to find out exactly what benefits we got from it, and then what was detrimental with it. I think the biggest thing I found out is the declaration actually created a dark cloud over the city,” Johnston told LWC.

“It created an ideological barrier for administration, and it brought politics into what should have been a what should have been environmental protection.”

Johnston said that, technically, the City of Calgary’s climate declaration doesn’t have a timeframe attached to it. He said Calgary would be the first city to end it.

“We’re an evidence-based council,” he said.

“Let’s show people what we can do for the environment without writing it on piece of paper.”

He said that it’s OK to scrutinize the department, as if it’s any other department. Johnston said that in his conversations with administration, they welcome the opportunity to defend the spending.

“But, like I said, it’s just a dark cloud of an emergency declaration that was never an emergency,” Johnston said.

“It’s already the good work the city’s already been doing, with or without the declaration. It’s as simple as that, and I think I’ve got support to end it.”

Calgary city councillors unsuccessfully attempted to remove the climate emergency declaration, and audit city departments, last year. It was defeated 10-4.

Chabot’s motion seeks similar action, albeit with a different council.

The motions come as a recent report shows some environmental progress is being made in the city, with work still ahead.

In the recent 2026 Sustainable Calgary report, four of six indicators showed sustainability or trending towards sustainability in the natural environment, along with water consumption being at a 20-year low. Still, there was some pause in where the city may be headed.

The City of Calgary has developed programs and targets for biodiversity and ecological integrity, and both are trending in a positive direction,” their report read.

“Most critically, greenhouse gas emissions continue to move us toward irreversible tipping points, threatening to make our planet much less welcoming to our species.”

They also pointed to unsustainable resource use saying that Calgary is “living well beyond its ecological means.”