Edmonton city councillors voted to declare a climate emergency Tuesday.
Ward 4 Coun. Aaron Paquette introduced motions to declare the emergency and receive quarterly—instead of annual—reports on the city's climate progress.
"It's becoming more and more of an urgent item, to the point that a lot of people are now saying it's an emergency," Paquette said.
'The timelines are dwindling'
The city wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 35 per cent by 2035. However, a report shows Edmonton is not on track to meet its energy reduction targets.
Councillors asked administration to revise its strategy by mid 2020, with an eight-point action plan that includes further analysis on how to reduce emissions and how much the plan will cost.
"This is an emergency and it requires our attention and our urgent care at the local level, as well as the national and planetary level to respond to this crisis, because the clock is ticking and we don’t have long," Mayor Don Iveson said.
"Scientists say we got about 10 years to turn the corner on this."
Other major Canadian citiesincluding Vancouver, Quebec and Ottawa have similarly declared climate emergencies.
