Subject Archives

  • Night shot of a crowded street in Tokyo full of neon signs.

    How to Reduce Urban Consumption Emissions

    SSG

    Most urban climate action plans focus on greenhouse gas emissions generated within a city’s boundaries resulting— from things like heating buildings, fueling cars, and decomposing trash. But emissions related to other everyday activities like eating out at restaurants, traveling on an airplane, purchasing a new phone, and construction of new buildings are also driving the…

  • How Local Governments Can Pull the Emergency Brake and Take Climate Action Now

    Emi Do

    Priority Climate Action Plans (PCAP) empower governments to act while they plan, rather than waiting for a plan to act. How do we make sure we are acting smart, while acting fast?

  • Lessons in Rebuilding After a Wildfire

    Emi Do

    When the entire town of Lytton, BC, burned down on June 30, 2021, the community decided to rebuild better. Their process offers lessons for other communities facing wildfire risks. 

  • How Two American Cities Integrated Federal Funding Into Their Climate Action Plans

    Emi Do

    SSG collaborated with Lakewood, Ohio and Ames, Iowa to identify the role of specific federal funds through detailed financial modeling. They are, to our knowledge, the first municipalities to account for federal funding from the Infrastructure Bill and Inflation Reduction Act in their climate action plans—setting them up to save hundreds of millions of dollars by…

  • Vectorasterized aerial image of a street of suburban homes with colourful siding.

    Land-use Planning is Climate Planning

    Jeremy Murphy

    City planners and developers across Canada make choices that create low-carbon or high-carbon neighbourhoods every day. Choosing the historically popular low-density approach locks in carbon emissions for decades. In the face of the climate crisis, this choice is simple: low-carbon developments are the only viable option. 

  • Webinar: Advancing Climate Action with Federal Funding

    SSG

    In this webinar, experts from C40 Cities and climate planning consultancy SSG provide guidance on applying for federal grants. They also explain how to design an effective climate action plan to make you competitive for a slice of the $4.6-billion set aside for implementing climate actions through the CPRG program and the many other federal…

  • Climate Action Planning Quickstart Guide for States & Metro Regions

    SSG

    SSG has published a Climate Action Planning Quickstart Guide to demystify the CPRG and provide guidance to US communities on how to develop a climate action plan.

  • Photo of Edmonton Skyline

    What Happens Now That Edmonton Didn’t Meet its Carbon Budget?

    Emi Do

    On November 3, 2022, the City of Edmonton released the first municipal carbon budget report in Canada. The report indicated that Edmonton is set to blow past its carbon budget of 176 million tonnes by 2037 and fall short of its target to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.  Though this news is alarming, it’s promising…

  • Panoramic view of the Whitby Marina.

    ​Q&A: Whitby Mayor’s On Kickstarting Climate Action

    Alia Dharssi

    Mayor Don Mitchell on Canada’s first data-driven municipal climate adaptation plan and how he went from debunking climate action to becoming a climate action champion.

  • Q&A: Toronto’s Net Zero Program Manager on Why Communication is Key

    SSG

    The City of Toronto is targeting net-zero community emissions by 2040—a decade sooner than most major North American cities with climate action plans. We caught up with Sophie Plottel, who leads the team responsible for TransformTO, to discuss how the City plans to reverse the general trend of rising emissions and what other communities can…