The leaves outside are not the only thing falling in Edmonton. Our latest numbers show that we are making progress towards our targets set out in the City of Edmonton’s Community Energy Transition Strategy. These targets include:
• Reduce community-based greenhouse gas emissions by 35 per cent by 2035.
• Reduce energy consumption by 25 per cent per person by 2035.
• Generate 10 per cent of Edmonton’s electricity locally by 2035.
In 2019, the community of Edmonton emitted approximately 17,216,000 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), with a majority of those emissions coming from building heat, electricity and transportation.
The good news is that we’ve seen decreases in many of the areas that we measure our GHG performance. Last year, total emissions decreased by 5.6 per cent and per person energy use decreased by 26 per cent, relative to the baseline year of 2005. Below you’ll see the historical trend of total emissions over the last 14 years.
While the causes for these reductions are complex, two key contributing factors include (1) ongoing improvements to energy and fuel efficiency in buildings, vehicles and appliances, and (2) the conversion of the provincial electricity grid to renewable and alternative energy.
Let’s not forget the climate actions of every citizen, organization and company in Edmonton, too. Every car trip avoided, every degree turned down on the thermostat and every solar panel installed in Edmonton, has brought us closer to our climate mitigation goals.
In fact, Edmontonians have reported taking over 21,455 actions on our Change for Climate blog since 2017.
We know that there is still progress to be made. The City of Edmonton is continuing to show our commitment to climate leadership through the update to our Energy Transition Strategy, which will align our goals with the international ambition to maintain global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees. Progress on this work will be presented to the City Council this fall.
Let’s keep up the good work, Edmonton! Find ways you can get involved at Change for Climate.
Editor’s note: the pic at the top of the posts shows an aerial view of the river valley by the High Level Bridge.