Edmonton carbon budget shows city falling behind on emission targets

Edmonton's carbon budget showsthe city is at risk of not reducing emissions enough to hit its 2050 carbon-neutral goal.

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The carbon budget, adopted by the City of Edmonton in 2022, is a tool that allows city council to weigh the greenhouse gas emission impacts associated with projects. 

Its purpose is to help the city meet its goal of being carbon-neutral as a corporation by 2040 and as a community by 2050, a goal set out by the International Panel of Climate Change.

"Edmonton is one of the first municipalities in North America and the very first one in Canada to present a carbon budget alongside our financial budgets," said Alberto Altamirano, the carbon budget's manager.

"Our auditor already sounded the alarm that climate change is going to be a major liability for folks, we know that inaction on climate is not an option," said Ward papastew Coun. Michael Janz.

"Climate issues are affordability issues," he continued. "By building more energy efficient buildings, they're not just better for the environment, they will lower the operating costs of the city."

The current carbon budget is 144 tonnes of carbon dioxide spread over 25 years.

Last year, Edmonton overshot its target by close to three million tonnes. At the current rate, the capital city is expected to blow its budget by 2036.

"We know that we need to be reducing emissions much faster than we currently are," said Ward Métis Coun. Ashley Salvador. "One of the realities when it comes to climate action and course correction is that it does take time."

"Lots of these projects that have been invested on will take years to actually have those emission reductions materialize and help get us there," Altamirano added.

The City of Edmonton's corporate emissions make up less than two per cent of the emissions within city limits.

It will take a joint effort between residents and governments to help keep the carbon budget balanced for the next few decades, said Altamirano and both city councillors.

"There are a number of things that are within municipal control, and we're taking those steps," Salvador said. "But without cooperation from other orders of government, it can be challenging to meet those targets."

"There's a lot of difficult, complex actions that need to be taken in conjunction with other orders to get us all there," Altamirano said.

But, there are signs that the community is on board and moving in the right direction.

Altamirano said Edomtonians have already surpassed the energy efficiency target in the city's energy transition strategy, and public transit is seeing record numbers of riders.

"As of 2023, our per-capita energy use has reduced by 40 per cent from 2005," he said. "Our target was to reduce to 35 per cent by 2030, so we're beating that by a lot."

In August 2019, Edmonton city council declared a climate emergency and the need to reduce the city's carbon footprint.

Other actions the city has taken to limit greenhouse gas emissions include installing solar panels on city facilities, the LED street light conversion program, deploying battery-electric buses, as well as various energy efficiency programs like the Home Energy Retrofit Accelerator.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Jeremy Thompson