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file 02topic · climate13 directives9 figures
last updated · 2026.04

Calgary’s climate emergency,
what it actually did.

On 15 November 2021, Calgary City Council declared a climate emergency. Four years later, a motion to rescind it was defeated 4-10. This case file walks through what the declaration directed, what got built, what it cost, and who actually paid.

climate · case filecity tax-base share
$2.20
/person
Recurring annual cost to every Calgarian, fully-ramped 2026.($3.52M/yr citywide)
grants secured
$602M
Federal + provincial money brought in 2023→2026.(non-repayable)
city contribution
$137M
Calgary capital + one-time operating + city-reserve cash for the same window — 4.4× leverage.(non-loan, 4-year cash)
per-capita GHG
−31.9%
Community emissions per resident vs. the 2005 baseline.(2005 → 2022)
[MO]

Rescission motions

2 motionsto rescind Calgary’s climate emergency declaration are currently on the Executive Committee agenda. For the trade-off in plain English — what keeping the declaration costs, what rescinding gives up — see the stakes.

rescission + memory-holeEC2026-0375 · item 5.2.8EC 2026-05-05NOM PDF

Rescinding the Climate Emergency Declaration

Councillor Johnston + Councillor Chabot
lead whereas
WHEREAS the 2021 Climate Emergency Declaration (EC2021-1525), adopted by Council on November 15, 2021, has been confirmed by City Administration as primarily symbolic in nature
be it resolved · 3 clauses
  1. Council immediately rescinds the Climate Emergency Declaration adopted on November 15, 2021 (EC2021-1525);
  2. Going forward administration is directed to cease all references to the “Climate Emergency Declaration,” “climate emergency,” or the 2021 declaration in all official City documents, strategies, plans, reports, communications, websites, and public materials; and
  3. Administration shall ensure that no future Council reports, policies, initiatives cite or rely upon the rescinded declaration as justification or authority.
what's distinctive

Goes further than EC2026-0404: not just rescission but a memory-hole — directs administration to scrub all references to the declaration from City documents and forbids future Council reports from citing it.

rescission + audit + Bill 18 claimEC2026-0404 · item 5.2.5EC 2026-05-05NOM PDF

Rescinding climate emergency, value for money audit and climate strategy spending

Councillor Chabot
lead whereas
WHEREAS the Province of Alberta, through the enactment of Bill 18, has prohibited municipalities from negotiating or receiving funding directly from the federal government, thereby eliminating one of the primary rationales originally advanced in support of the climate emergency declaration
be it resolved · 3 clauses
  1. Council rescind the ‘Climate Emergency declaration;
  2. Council direct Administration to conduct a comprehensive value for money audit of all City climate-related spending, including operating and capital expenditures tied to the Climate Emergency declaration and subsequent climate strategies, across all business units and departments
  3. Administration report the results publicly through the 2026 November Adjustments to the 2027-2031 Service Plans and Budgets, with clear, plain-language explanations of climate-related expenditures and recommendations, so that Council and Calgarians can evaluate whether climate spending provides value for money.
what's distinctive

Pairs rescission with a value-for-money audit and a Bill 18 economic claim. The Bill 18 framing overstates what the Provincial Priorities Act actually does — see the fact-check on /climate/claims.

claim rebuttals