What are we updating in the Community Energy Transition Strategy?
The Community Energy Transition Strategy will be updated to work with a local carbon budget of 135 Megatonnes. This budget is the amount of greenhouse gas emissions Edmonton is permitted ro release from now until 2050 if we are to work toward the global target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C. This budget is calculated using international modeling systems and it helps the City allocate and monitor emissions. Every year emissions are added to the atmosphere essentially reduces the remaining local carbon budget.
At Edmonton’s current levels of emissions, this local carbon budget will be exceeded in 7 to 9 years from now. To stay within budget requires transitioning from 19 tonnes of emissions per person per year to 3 tonnes per person per year by 2030, and being emissions neutral by 2050.
Through modeling, jurisdictional scans and following best practices, the City has grouped the climate actions needed to achieve the target into 7 proposed Climate Shifts:
For details on the local carbon budget and the Climate Shifts, please refer to the Getting to 1.5C Discussion Paper.
