With community collaboration and support, The City created the 
Calgary Community Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reduction Plan. The goal of the Plan is to significantly reduce GHG emissions in Calgary while realizing other environmental, economic and social benefits.
Managing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
With simple actions we can improve our health, our economy and our quality of life. Most importantly by acting now, we will be prepared for more challenging opportunities later.
The project involves citizens, organizations and governments. Together, The City and community stakeholders will be able to reduce GHG emissions through conservation, energy efficiency and low carbon energy sources. The Plan outlines the actions and roles needed to reduce emissions and meet the Calgary Climate Change Accord and imagineCALGARY targets. These targets are also in line with the federal reduction target for 2020 and are similar to what other Canadian cities have committed themselves to achieve.
The Plan delivers on Council’s Priority to protect the environment.
Population Growth and Emissions
Daily tasks that use electricity or natural gas, driving your vehicle or throwing away garbage into our landfills result in GHG emissions. Studies show that GHG emissions are directly linked to population growth. Over the last two decades, Calgary’s GHG emissions
increased by almost 40 per cent. In that same period, Calgary’s population increased more than 50 per cent. This relationship is not surprising as more people equals more vehicles traveling more kilometres and more homes/businesses requiring more energy.
Reduction Targets
The Plan outlines cost-effective actions that anybody can do. Together, we can start reducing GHG emissions right away and achieve the following reduction targets:
- 20% by 2020 (below 2005)
- 50% by 2036 (below 1990)
- 80% by 2050 (below 2005)
Actions YOU Can Take Today
- Conserve energy by using less electricity, natural gas, gasoline or diesel
- Buy energy efficient products
- Make energy upgrades in your home
- Try new high efficiency and renewable energy technologies
- Compost organic material
- Plant a tree or other vegetation to capture and store GHGs
- Take transit, walk, cycle, telecommute, combine trips
- Build relationships with others to support actions
- Identify and work to remove barriers to new products, services and behaviours
- Promote and demonstrate good practices
Reporting
The City will monitor, measure and report Calgary’s progress in implementing the Plan. It will be reviewed and revised within five years to ensure it remains up to date with current legislation, approaches and opportunities for reducing GHG emissions.
This will give us better insight to where The City can have the greatest impact through local policies and programs. It also allows Calgary to compare its achievements with other cities in Canada and around the world.
History
The imagineCALGARY Plan - a process involving over 18,000 Calgarians - calls for Calgary to reduce community greenhouse gas emissions by six per cent below 1990 levels by 2012. imagineCALGARY also establishes long-term targets, calling for Calgarians to demonstrate climate leadership by reducing emissions to 50 per cent below 1990 levels by 2036.
The City of Calgary identifies climate change as one of its three priority action areas stemming from imagineCALGARY. Development and implementation of a Community GHG Reduction Plan will help meet the priorities and the imagineCALGARY targets, from reducing air pollution to developing complete communities.
Council sets the priority to safeguard the environment by implementing green strategies, reducing the ecological footprint and the impact of activities on air, water and land resources. The Plan is developed and then approved by Council. For more information, read our Greenhouse Gas Research Report.
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