A Renewable City...

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Why we need a Renewable City

The transport and use of non-renewable resources within and through Ottawa can easily have various negative implications on Ottawa citizens. Ranging from environmental to human health threats, it is in Ottawa’s overall favour to decrease dependence and trade-in non-renewable resources as much as possible. We continue to promote clean energy and other energy-efficient resources as alternatives for Ottawa and its’ citizens. Not only does it help the environment, but the economic savings are undeniable on both individual and governmental scales.

Throughout the years, various climate change agreements have been made on the federal, provincial, and municipal levels. Renewable City advocates to ensure Ottawa commits to upholding past agreements and to continue to work towards improving their own climate strategies. Reducing the effects of climate change cannot be done with half-hearted attempts; a firm hand to ensure political climate action occurs is a must.

Renewable City’s work has included calling for action against pipelines transporting crude oil in and around Ottawa. Our concerns lie not only in the environmental damages but to the severe threats to Ottawa’s drinking and groundwater. Should an oil spill occur in or along one of the various rivers flowing into the capital, the health implications would have devastating effects on all citizens. It is essential for these risks be taken into greater consideration.

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At 47% of Ottawa’s community emissions, buildings make up the largest-emitting sector in our city. This has clear implications for municipal climate action. If Ottawa wants to meet its greenhouse gas reduction target of 80% below 2012 levels by 2050, emissions from buildings must be a major target.

In November 2019, Ecology Ottawa published a report supported by The McLean Foundation exploring the ways in which Ottawa’s buildings could be retrofitted to improve their condition and, ultimately, their impact on climate change.

We must invest in making Ottawa’s buildings vastly more efficient and powered by renewable energy. But improvements cost money. Even in cases where energy efficiency investments yield profit over the medium-term, many homeowners and large institutions like governments, hospitals, universities and schools find it hard to prioritize these investments over competing demands. The challenge lies in creating the right set of incentives in order to engage consumers in investments that can dramatically improve Ottawa’s emission performance.

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News & Updates

Listen Now: Why our yellow buses must go green!

This week we released a report into the many benefits of transitioning our school bus fleet away from diesel to electric. We are so excited to share this with you - read our electric school bus report here.

This week we joined Alan Neal's All in a Day program on CBC Radio to discuss why our school buses must go green. Hear the interview here.

C3 2022 Climate Progress Account - Rapport de C3 sur le progrès en matière du climat en 2022

A member of the Peoples Official Plan, Citizen Climate Counsel (C3), has launched a 2022 Climate Progress Account report assessing the City of Ottawa’s progress on implementing its climate priorities and agenda. C3 tracked all of the City of Ottawa’s 159 milestones outlined in their various climate plans: Climate Change Master Plan, Energy Evolution and other city documents. C3 then reviewed city council and committee meeting minutes, staff reports and more to track the city’s progress on these milestones. This evaluation clearly demonstrated that the city of Ottawa is not on track to achieve its climate targets. 

Will this Official Plan Do the Job?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Members of the People's Official Plan (POP) alliance answer the question, Will this Official Plan do the job?

 

We Need A City That Will Take Action To Interrupt The Climate Emergency!

As the representative urban face of Canada in a changing world, Ottawa has a responsibility to be involved in current international events. The National Capital region in particular must demonstrate flexibility in adapting infrastructures, programs and policies to answer challenges that issue from far beyond municipal, provincial and federal borders.

Now Is The Time To Act!

Now Is The Time To Act!

The recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reinforces the urgent need to cut our emissions in the fight to limit global warming.

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