Were you recently hired as a municipal employee tasked with working on climate change? Check out our Guide for Municipal Climate Change Staff.

Our step-by-step guide provides will help you from your first day through your first year in your new role. Just as no two communities are alike, neither is their approach to tackling climate challenges. This resource was created to aid municipal staff establish themselves as leaders on climate through practical information, resources, checklists and templates.

This resource was created based on the experiences, lessons learned and best practices from FCM’s Municipalities for Climate Innovation Program Climate Change Staff Grant recipients, a group of municipal practitioners hired to advance climate change policy and practices in small and rural communities across Canada.

The guide provides information on:

• The structure and decision-making systems of municipal government
• Helpful tips and criteria to consider when developing a business case for local climate projects
• Approaches to communicating about climate action
• The importance of data and analysis for your climate work and suggested data sources
• Professional development skills including negotiation and communication.
• Personal insights from climate change staff

Read the guide.

Who this guide is for?

This guide was created for municipal practitioners, such as those with the role of Sustainability Coordinator, Climate Change Coordinator, Climate Change and Energy Specialist or Environmental Officer.

In this video, Michael Hay, Manager of Environment & Sustainability telling the story of Banff, Alberta’s hybrid bus fleet -- Canada’s first municipal hybrid bus fleet.

Visitors to Banff National Park has grown steadily with a 30% increase just in the last 7 years. While providing a boost to local businesses, the community was struggling with the influx of cars.

At the same time, the city’s bus fleet was outdated, and had no wheelchair access or bike racks.

Since introducing the new hybrid bus fleet, ridership has grown significantly. In light of the environmental and business success of the project, the city is doubling-down on green transit including the recent acquisition of electric buses.

Speaker

Michael Hay, Manager of Environment & Sustainability for the Town of Banff

Read the transcript

Additional resources:  

• Check out the complete case study of this transportation project.
• Explore our Transportation Funding offer.
• This video is extracted from the webinar "How to adapt green municipal projects to stand the test of time " presented on March 30, 2021. Watch the full webinar.

Glenda Holmes, Water Works Manager, explains how a feasibility study helped the City of Yorkton ramp up the environmental benefits of its new water treatment plant by treating the wastewater it produced.

When construction of the new plant began in 2007, the city undertook a study to explore whether it could take its investment further by cleaning and reusing the backwash water and seek out ways to make the most of the green space available on the site.

The project involved widespread stakeholder and community consultation. Through strong project management provided by the City’s Environmental Services department, the project was divided into two phases, one consisted of the settling ponds, wetlands, trout pond and recharge area, and the second consisted of the sporting fields and walking paths.

Speaker

Glenda Holmes, Water Works Manager for the Environmental Services Department of the City of Yorkton, SK

Read the transcript

Additional resources:

• Explore our Water Funding offer.
• Check out the complete case study of the City of Yorkton Water Treatment Plant Wastewater Reuse Feasibility Study.
• This video is extracted from the webinar "Take your project from study to capital" presented on March 2, 2021. Watch the full webinar.

In this video, Tara Tran, Senior Planner, City of Brantford discusses how, in 2015, the City of Brantford launched a two-year cleanup of  The Greenwich Mohawk brownfield site—the culmination of years of preparation.

Beginning in 2002, the City of Brantford commissioned several remediation studies to assess the environmental conditions of the site. The studies confirmed extensive contamination to the site, including gas, diesel, oil, heavy metals and other chemicals, as well as structural debris and underground storage tanks.  

Ms Tran explains that working on the City of Brantford’s Greenwich Mohawk project has highlighted the importance of two key strategies that contributed to their success:

1. Including project champions representing each area of involvement and
2. Ensuring open and honest dialogue with people to progress and overcome obstacles and complaints.

Through the project, 20 hectares of land have remediated, 148,900 cubic metres of soil excavated and 120,000 litres of oil removed from groundwater

The site is now completely remediated enabling the site will be redeveloped in the future. 

Speaker

Tara Tran, Senior Planner, City of Brantford

Read the transcript

Find out more about how you can drive efficiency brownfield project!

• Check out the complete Case Study for this brownfield initiative in Brantford, Ontario.
• Explore our Brownfield Funding offer under the Land Use Funding program.
• Want to join a free national network gathering municipal champions in brownfields? Check out FCM’s Leadership in Brownfield Renewal network  (LiBRe).
• This video is extracted from the webinar "Take your project from study to capital" presented on March, 2 , 2021. Watch the full webinar.

In this video, Johanne Ouellet, Vice-President YHC Mobility at YHC Environnement discusses how, in 2016, the Société d’innovation en environnement (SIE) and YHC Environnement started a pilot project to introduce an electric vehicle-sharing system, partnering with the municipalities of Plessisville, Nicolet, Bromont, Témiscouata-sur-le-Lac, Rivière-du-Loup and Sainte-Julienne.

Through this project, the six participating municipalities added electric vehicles to their fleets and made them available to residents and partners through a car-sharing system for municipalities in the region. The electric vehicle-sharing system reduces emissions and generates revenue.

Studies have shown that in Plessisville alone, three-quarters of the municipality’s fleet was used less than 3.5 hours per day, 50 percent of the time. Most of the vehicles (87 percent) were used for trips shorter than 40 kilometres. The other five participating municipalities showed similar patterns, with fleets sitting idle in the parking lot for long stretches of time.

The success of this project has inspired other municipalities to follow the example. Since 2018, more than 10 municipalities have joined to program.

Speaker

Johanne Ouellet, Vice-President YHC Mobility at YHC Environnement

Read the transcript

For the sake of quality, the video is available in its original language with the possibility of adding English subtitles.

Additional resources:

• Explore our Transportation Funding offer.
• Check out the complete case study of this transportation project.
• This video is extracted from the webinar "How to adapt green municipal projects to stand the test of time" presented on March 30, 2021. Watch the full webinar.

When structural issues forced the closure of Iqaluit’s municipal pool, the city’s 7,740 residents were left without a central community space to get healthy, active and connect with each other. The City of Iqaluit envisioned a bigger and better replacement. Amy Elgersma, CAO of the City of Iqaluit tells the story of what could be a model for sustainable building practices for the city and other Northern communities.

In her presentation Ms. Elgersma discusses overcoming challenges of construction in Northern communities, including transportation, energy, historical contamination and permafrost.

Some highlights and results include:

Triple bottom line benefits: The centre created 38 jobs, and is expected to reduce Co2 emissions by 794 tonnes annually and  reduce water consumption by 30%, while also providing a location for community members to connect and improve their physical and mental health.

Stakeholders / Community engagement: The City of Iqaluit developed a need-based fund to ensure Inuit Children and their families can access all the benefits of the aquatic centre and its programs.  The Jimmy Kilabuk Childrens Recreation Fund is named after an elder, former councillor and mayor who passed away before he could see his dream of building the Aquatic Centre through to completion.

Capacity building: Over 2500 swim lessons have been taught through learn to swim programs and school swim programs which has resulted in the certification and subsequent hiring of local youth as lifeguards and swim instructors.

Financing: GMF opened the door to allow the City of Iqaluit to secure financing for its energy efficient Aquatic and Fitness Centre.

Critical partnerships: The City of Iqaluit and Qulliq Energy Corporation demonstrated a unique multi-level government partnership with its district heat agreement realize green-house gas emission reductions and cost-savings.  The success of the partnership led to a commitment to connect an additional three City of Iqaluit facilities to the District Heat System.

Speaker

Amy Elgersma, Chief Administrative Officer, City of Iqaluit

Read the transcript

Learn more 

• Check out the complete case study of the City of Iqaluit's new LEED Silver Aquatic Centre.
• Explore our core energy funding offer and the GMF’s Municipal Energy Roadmap.
• This video is extracted from the webinar "The 5 keys to a green municipal business case" presented on February 2 , 2021. Watch the full webinar.

Gordon Szaszi, Project Manager Housing Development, shares Niagara Regional Housing (NRH) experience creating the business case for a 67-unit affordable housing development for seniors. This modern and welcoming building is a boon to the community, a great example of urban intensification integrating much-needed community housing, and a wonderful new place for seniors to call home.

Other project highlights include:

Triple bottom line benefits: This project contributed an estimated $9 million to the Welland economy; the building achieved a 51% reduction in typical energy consumption,  and eliminates 44 tonnes of GHGs annual

Critical partnerships: Achieving LEED Silver certification required strong relationships with designers, consultants, planners, Municipal and Regional departments.

Capacity building: The implementation of this project brought new sustainable knowledge and practices to NRH, the City of Welland, and the Region as a whole.

Stakeholders / Community engagement: The Fitch Street development is an example of sustainable affordable housing providing a high quality of life to local residents.

Speaker

Gordon Szaszi, Project Manager Housing Development at Niagara Regional Housing

Read the transcript

Learn more on driving efficiency in community housing projects!

Check out the Case Study on this initiative.
Explore our Sustainable Affordable Housing Funding initiative.
This video is extracted from the webinar "The 5 keys to a green municipal business case" presented on February 2, 2021. Watch the full webinar.

Marie-Pierre Paquette discusses how the municipalities of Plessisville, Varennes and Verchères banded together to launch a joint pilot project that would bring energy-efficient home renovations within reach for more homeowners.

The Financement innovateur pour des Municipalités Efficaces (FIME) program (Innovative Financing Mechanism for Efficient Municipalities),  supports energy-efficient solutions like heating, lighting and insulation. The pilot program also included personalized coaching services.

The benefits of this pilot program have extended beyond Plessisville, Varennes and Verchères. By the end of the pilot in 2017, plans were set in motion to deploy the program to the rest of the province, with 10 more municipalities joining.

Learn how your municipality can implement a similar model to remove barriers to energy efficiency and lower GHGs

Speaker

Marie-Pierre Paquette, Director, Civic Life Department of the City of Plessisville

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For the sake of quality, the video is available in its original language with the possibility of adding English subtitles.

Find out more about community efficiency financing programs!

• Explore our Community Efficiency Financing offer.
• Check out the Case study for this project.

This video is extracted from the webinar "Take your project from study to capital" presented on March 2, 2021. Watch the full webinar.

Increasing energy efficiency in Canadian homes can go a long way in helping homeowners reduce their GHG emissions, lower operating costs and increase home comfort.

Municipalities can make this easier and more affordable for residents by offering local financing programs for home energy upgrades.

Wondering how to get started in your community? Watch this video to learn:

• What home energy upgrade programs are and how they work
• The different types of programs you can offer your residents
• Ways to secure financing to implement a local program

Read the transcript