With its new designation as a Tree City of the World, just over 179,000 trees, and over 830 hectares of park land, Regina is known for its green spaces.
However, the City has yet to implement a comprehensive climate change policy.
In February 2017, the City of Regina endorsed the Blue Dot Movement’s Right to a Healthy Environment. In September 2018, Regina city councillors Andrew Stevens, Joel Murray and John Findura put forward a motion to make Regina a 100 per cent renewable city by 2050. The motion passed unanimously.
A June 2019 report regarding an Energy and Sustainability Framework recommended that the City of Regina host an Energy and Sustainability Conference, intended to provide input into the Framework and include a way for the City to move towards renewable energy sources, autonomous vehicles, solar panels, and other initiatives.
Coun. Murray points to that conference as where the City will determine the most effective action to take.
“We’re going to invite basically industry leaders and other municipalities that have achieved their renewability targets to learn from them,” Murray said.
“We don’t want to invest in Beta[max] when VHS is coming out right away.”
Regina’s approach is directed toward renewable energy within the City of Regina as an organization, rather than the city as a whole. Efforts are focused on the city’s fleet and transportation, facility heating and cooling, and electricity.
Roger Petry, co-cordinator for Saskatchewan’s Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development, said that if a city wants to go toward 100 per cent renewable energy, it should be looking at more expansive ways to influence its citizens.
“If we’re serious about the climate change crisis, then the city should be using its full powers in order to advance things,” Petry said. “The cities will, for example, have regulatory powers that the federal government would not have saying in terms of homeowners and buildings and businesses.”
Petry also said that it was important for cities to consider the United Nations’ sustainable development goals when implementing policies about sustainability.
“For me, [that’s] a good barometer about whether somebody takes a sustainable development in a holistic and meaningful way,” he said.
In comparison to Regina, Saskatoon has taken a more active approach.
In August 2019, Saskatoon announced its Low Emissions Community Plan, which included 40 actions the city were either actively planning or already completing. These actions include electrifying the municipal transit fleet, retrofitting municipal heating and cooling systems with heat pumps, and installing solar power systems on municipal buildings.
By 2050, Saskatoon’s total annual residential energy expenditures are projected to be $440 million per year lower than if nothing changed.
Murray said that they’ve learned a lot from Saskatoon, but don’t have some of the same advantages: Saskatoon has its own electricity utility company, but Regina relies on SaskPower. However, there’s another challenge he sees on the horizon.
“I believe public buy-in is important. I believe people need to educate themselves on the challenges that climate change will face,” Murray said.
“I think in the prairies and here in Regina, sometimes we don’t see the same effects right away. But other parts of our country … we’re seeing glaciers that have receded and completely disappeared.”
Petry thought Regina’s timeline for bringing sustainable development might not come soon enough.
“I think in terms of the city in general, citizens recognize there is a crisis and that we have to make shifts. And the timeline is … what is it, 2050?” said Petry. “There’s an urgency about this. 2050 may be too far away as well.”
