Category: Environment

Cities and Climate Leadership

This week Mayors, government leaders, and climate change scientists are in Edmonton for the International Cities and Climate Change Science Conference. We clearly heard that cities are willing to commit to a new kind of partnership with the scientific community – a research and innovation agenda that will drive our investment decisions and the policy… Read More

Let’s Accelerate Our Leadership On Energy Transition And Climate Change

I have long believed in the power of cities to tackle some of the great challenges of our time. This is especially true when it comes to confronting both the causes and the impacts of climate change. At about the mid-point in my term as Mayor, City Council passed the Community Energy Transition Strategy, making… Read More

Building Our LRT, Building Our City

In 1978, Edmonton’s population was just over 478,000 and – with great fanfare surrounding the Commonwealth Games – we became the first city in North America (with <1 million people) to build light rail transit. With yesterday’s Statistics Canada announcement, our population now sits at 932,546, making us one of the fastest growing cities in… Read More

COP22 and Tackling a Changing Climate

As Chair of the Canadian Big City Mayors’ group, I am in Marrakech this week for the COP22 Climate Change Conference. I am grateful to Environment & Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna for the opportunity to join her as part of the Canadian delegation and for including the municipal perspective in implementing the Paris Agreement.… Read More

The next steps on Blatchford

When we closed the downtown airport in 2009, we made a deal with Edmontonians to do something special with these lands located in the heart of our city. That promise was Blatchford. Today, City Council made a decision to further advance an important part of this development: how best to provide heat and hot water… Read More