Olivia Woods
Monday night, after nearly two hours of debate, the city council declared a climate emergency. Edmonton declared an emergency two years ago, and Mayor Jyoti Gondek declared one of his first acts after taking office last month.
Councillors Sean Chu and Dan McLean expressed concern about sending a negative message to Alberta’s oil and gas industry.
“Fossil fuels have, if anything, made human life on this planet better, not worse. They have blessed humans with the capability of living successfully in a harsh natural climate like ours,” Chu said.
“Declaring a climate emergency should not take priority over the economic emergency and jobs emergency in Calgary.”
The motion also calls for updating Calgary’s environmental plan to target net-zero emissions by 2050.
Mayor Gondek said the move aligns the city with Calgary oil and gas companies.
“It is a matter of making sure that we understand the reality of the table stakes that are declaring a climate emergency, so we can actually attract capital and talent here,” she said.
Changing the wording from “climate emergency” to “call to action” would help speed up the city’s environmental work, said Councillor Sonya Sharp.
But she only got a few council colleagues on board, with others fearing replacing the words would weaken its intent. City Officials say if Calgary don’t use the same language as other cities around the world declaring climate emergencies, it wouldn’t be on the same level.
Gondek says the municipal government is forging a new relationship with the energy sector by meeting with energy company representatives and business leaders ahead of the council discussion.
“There are so many accomplishments in the energy transition that we just haven’t been talking about. The narrative has to get out there that our city and our energy sector is doing good work — they have set some very, very high targets for bringing emissions under control.”
Original source material for this article taken from here
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