QUEST Canada wants to help local governments help their communities get to net-zero
“I don’t think any community has figured out how to get to net zero,” says Eddie Oldfield, senior lead of projects for Quest Canada, who are now recruiting for their expanded Net Zero Communities Accelerator Program. “Let alone our provincial or federal governments. But it does take all of us working together to get there,” says Oldfield.
With $2 million in funding from ACOA and complementary funding from individual provinces, QUEST Canada will be helping 15 different municipalities in the Atlantic Provinces create plans and undertake initiatives to help them get to net-zero emissions.
The Net Zero Communities Accelerator Program was originally piloted in New Brunswick, and towns like Oromocto, St. Andrews and Riverview have all participated. The new program includes four New Brunswick communities so far, including Salisbury, Riverview, Grand Bay-Westfield and Fredericton.
QUEST’s work with each municipality is a bit different, depending on where they are in the process of planning towards net-zero. In Oromocto, “they had a supportive council and staff that wanted to champion the way forward,” says Oldfield, so QUEST did brainstorming exercises, in-depth action planning, and helped the town come up with a community energy and emissions plan.
“There are other communities that come to us that already have a plan,” says Oldfield, but is not being implemented. “It’s literally a plan that sits on the corner of somebody’s desk,” says Oldfield.… Continue