CANMORE – The Town of Canmore will be able to move forward on its climate change objectives thanks to a $125,000 grant from the federal government to help pay for a climate change specialist.
The money will be used to cover up to 80 per cent of the employee’s salary over the next two years.
“The position will help us implement our Climate Action Plan and to also make tangible progress on reducing the community’s GHG emissions,” wrote Lori Rissling Wynn, the Town’s sustainability coordinator.
“This will be accomplished by implementing our residential and commercial organics collection program, work on setting a renewable energy target for the community and determine a pathway to achieving this.”
In December, council approved a plan that will slash greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent below 2015 levels by 2050, which is aligned with federal targets.
To do so, the 39-page plan outlines dozens of short and long-term goals to reduce emissions from buildings, transportation and waste.
“Municipalities influence roughly half of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions and they are already modelling some of the most innovative green initiatives in the country,” wrote Vicki-May Hamm, president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM). “But they need the resources to build on these first steps. That is why we are proud to support our local governments with this funding to help create jobs that will drive solutions and support national results.”
Canmore was among 58 municipalities across Canada selected to share $6.4 million in federal funding through the Municipalities for Climate Innovation Program delivered by FCM.
Canmore was also recently selected to host three community workshops to discuss how the town can accelerate the implementation of renewable energy.
The workshops will be hosted by QUEST, a national non-government organization that works to accelerate the adoption of efficient and integrated community-scale energy systems in Canada.
QUEST was one of 10 organizations selected by FCM to help municipalities cut their carbon emissions and provided each organization a maximum of $400,000 to cover up to 80 per cent of the project costs.
Details about when the workshops will be held have not been finalized.
