New database reveals the current state of climate action in Canadian municipalities
Sponsored by Federation of Canadian Municipalities
Municipalities play a critical role in Canada’s efforts to achieve local, provincial, national, and global targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Local governments influence more than half the country’s GHG emissions and own 60 per cent of public infrastructure. The municipal role in climate action initiatives is pivotal not only in reducing local emissions, but also in fostering a low-carbon and sustainable future.
Municipal Net-Zero Action Research Partnership
Municipalities are integral to Canada’s net-zero targets for 2030 and 2050. This includes the global initiative to limit the increase in global temperatures to 1.5°C, as outlined in the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Local government representatives must have a clear understanding of where they stand today in their efforts to mitigate climate change, particularly in comparison to other municipalities across Canada. To address that knowledge gap, the Municipal Net-Zero Action Research Partnership (N-ZAP) has published a new database and report that reveal crucial information relating to:
- local climate action planning and implementation
- GHG inventories
- policy interventions
- stakeholder engagement initiatives
N-ZAP is a partnership between the University of Waterloo, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ (FCM) Green Municipal Fund, ICLEI Canada, 11 other Canadian universities, nine other national organizations, and 15 municipal governments across Canada. This project was undertaken with financial support from the Government of Canada.
The partnership’s data supports the findings of other organizations such as C40 Cities, the Global Covenant of Mayors, and the Urban Sustainability Directors Network. It further demonstrates that local governments around the world are engaging in meaningful and impactful action to mitigate climate change. The findings are based on survey data collected from 256 Canadian municipalities across 10 provinces, representing approximately 69.5 percent of the Canadian population.
Tools to Close the Crucial Gap in Local Climate Action
The N-ZAP survey found that 63.3 per cent of participating municipalities had implemented a climate action plan to help advance local efforts toward significant GHG emissions reductions. Among the participants, 52.3 per cent reported officially adopting a GHG emissions target. Meanwhile 53.1 per cent of participants had created GHG emissions inventories.
Despite early progress, the survey data exposes crucial gaps in local climate action that demand attention if Canada is to achieve its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. The findings make it clear that improvements are still needed to:
- accelerate interventions
- establish more robust targets
- enhance the efficiency of municipal efforts
With these findings, the partnership has developed a robust dataset for academic research on climate action planning and implementation. Communities can use this tool to benchmark themselves against the state of climate mitigation in 178 municipalities across Canada.
The partnership has also published a new report, “The State of Climate Action in Canadian Municipalities.” The report provides a detailed summary of the survey data and how communities can use it to inform their decision making.
To learn explore the database, visit waterlooclimatedata.ca/nzap. To download the report, visit pcp-ppc.ca/resources. MW
✯ Municipal World Insider and Executive Members: You might also be interested in Karen Farbridge and Laura Taylor’s article: Net-zero secondary planning brings energy to local planning.
Marieke Cloutier is the Green Municipal Fund’s senior director, programs at FCM.
Related resource materials:
