Malloum Abakardid
"Ottawa signed the commitment; it should report publicly, every year, on what it has done to honour it. I haven't studied the full file and won't promise specifics before I have."
Laine Johnson
"Ottawa made a commitment to move away from our dependence on fossil fuels when Council endorsed the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2022. For me, the important question is how we turn that commitment into concrete action.
A major part of that is implementing the work already laid out in Energy Evolution. The City’s strategy identifies phasing out fossil fuels and increasing renewable energy as essential to reaching Ottawa’s emissions targets, with transportation and buildings being two of the biggest areas where we can make a difference.
One very concrete example is transit. We need to continue moving OC Transpo away from diesel and toward zero-emission buses. Ottawa’s Zero-Emission Bus program is already replacing diesel buses with electric buses, and the first phase is targeting 350 electric buses. That is exactly the kind of practical investment that reduces our reliance on fossil fuels while providing a better public service.
But this cannot just be about the City’s own fleet. We need to make it easier for residents to move away from fossil fuels too—through reliable public transit, support for home energy retrofits and electrification, better options for walking and cycling, and development that makes it easier to live without relying on a car. Energy Evolution already identifies these kinds of actions, including building retrofits, electric vehicles, zero-emission transit and reducing reliance on private vehicles."