The “greening” of cities is an extremely important topic for both the environment and the general well-being of the economy and citizens. The Global Livability Index reports on the most livable cities in the world. They include measurements such as humidity/temperature rating, discomfort of climate to travellers, quality of public transport, quality of energy provision, and quality of water provision, all of which are related to climate change and climate action. The livability of a city can help attract people, businesses, and politics. Therefore, greening cities is essential to promoting the economy as well as general well-being.
Additionally, sustainable cities are one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals agreed upon by the United Nations, an international organization with almost all world countries involved. Goal 11 states that we must aspire to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” by 2030. Furthermore, The FMC claims that we can avoid $6 billion in costs for every $1 invested in climate disaster mitigation. Therefore, investing in the greening of cities can help save money while preventing global warming.
Canada’s average temperatures are rising at twice the global average and three times in the North. As a country with approximately ⅓ of our land in the Arctic Circle, rising temperatures will be catastrophic to our territories. Some studies show that there are already increases in landslides, road inaccessibility, and damage to infrastructure as a result of melting permafrost in Arctic land. Canada is also seeing a record high in the number of forest fires and days with record-breaking temperatures during the summer months. This is accompanied by dramatic weather events in the fall and winter. Therefore, Canada has committed to being a leader in climate action. Canada led the Stockholm (1972) and Rio (1992) climate agreements and made significant commitments at the 1997 Kyoto Agreement. Canada has reduced its climate action since then, such as their withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol in 2011, but still promises to reduce emissions. Canada has been involved in international climate agreements like the 2015 Paris Agreement, and other COPs since.
In order to track its emissions, Canada regularly develops, updates, and publishes its national inventory of human‑sourced emissions, an action that is required as a party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This tracking is then used to update and increase actions and aspirations where needed, to ensure “Clean Air and a Strong Economy” for future Canadians.
This graph depicts how much Canada’s predicted temperatures in June, July, and August of 2024 were expected to be above the normal degree as a percentage.
Green House Gases (GHGs) and climate action are involved within almost all areas of governance and individual lives. Therefore, responsibility is divided between the various levels of government, and according to their different areas of jurisdiction. In general, the federal government regulates national defence, banking and currency, crime, broadcasting, and transportation. The provincial government covers education, healthcare, ownership of natural resources, and provincial tax-making authority, as well as provincial infrastructure and transportation. Municipal governments receive their powers from their respective provincial or territorial governments. They are often responsible for things like parks, recreation facilities, local transportation, recycling, and local police.
Each level of government is important for ensuring that their areas of jurisdiction are meeting the goals set for them, whether they were set by themselves or a higher level of government. Oftentimes, this requires working with other areas of government, business, non-governmental organizations, and more.
Additionally, Canada is very diverse regarding our geography, economic sources, peoples, and cultures. As part of this, many different subgroups of people have differing opinions, and different needs to address. Therefore, it is important to understand the different aspirations and goals we have at different levels of government as governments are responsible to different people and have different areas of control.
As outlined by the World Meteorological Organization, in 2024 global temperatures have an 80% likelihood to exceed the 1.5 ℃ threshold temporarily between now and 2028. This means that our global temperatures will have risen more than 1.5 ℃ above pre-industrial levels, or before we started extracting fossil fuels and performing mass production. During the Paris Climate Agreement, Canada agreed to help keep global temperatures below this level, agreeing that any temperature rise above 1.5 ℃ would be catastrophic for life on our planet. Canada was also among the first countries to sign and ratify the Paris Agreement and commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 30% below 2005 levels by 2030. Current actions have contributed to predicted emissions reductions by 36% from 2005 levels by 2030. Therefore, Canada has since updated its 2030 goals to reduce emissions by 40 to 45 percent.
The Provinces and Territories are required to help uphold the 1.5 ℃ threshold, as outlined by the Federal Government. However, certain provinces and territories are higher emitters, they all have different economic means, and some have more public pressure to reduce GHGs than others. Therefore, they have all made various commitments with different means of achieving them.
| Province | Aspirations |
|---|---|
| British Columbia | B.C. has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 16% below 2007 levels by 2025, 40% by 2030, 60% by 2040 and 80% by 2050. They have also committed to becoming net-zero — which means all emissions released by human activities are counterbalanced by removing carbon from the atmosphere — by 2050. |
| Alberta | In April 2023, the Alberta government released the Emissions Reduction and Energy Development Plan (ERED). The plan outlines the course of action the province will take to cut emissions and achieve aspirations of a carbon-neutral economy by 2050 while increasing economic development and investment in new technologies. |
| Ontario | Ontario's Climate Change Strategy sets out the transformative change required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. They hope to prevent a 2-4 degree rise in global temperatures, as they agree with current predictions by the scientific community. |