QUEST Canada's NCA Program recognized with a Clean50 Top Project Award

Source: | · CLEAN 50 · | October 11, 2024

QUEST Canada’s Net-Zero Community Accelerator, clearing local paths for a greener global future

Canada’s motivation and actions to implement solutions to reduce GHG emissions is not only a climate objective. It is seen as an opportunity for social reform. Reconciliation, equity, diversity and inclusion, poverty reduction and economic growth must all be part of the long-term picture as communities shift toward net zero – and communities are a place where that shift absolutely needs to happen.

The pathway to net-zero emissions in Canada is through the leadership of local governments as drivers of change. Energy use by the multiple sectors at work in Canadian communities, from housing to transportation to local industry, accounts for 60 percent of total energy consumption and half of Canada’s GHG emissions. Mobilizing these communities is key if Canada is to meet its emission targets.

The stumbling block on this pathway is that local governments often lack the capacity – knowledge, tools, resources and financing – to do their part, and that’s where the Net-Zero Communities Accelerator Pilot Program comes into play, and plays hard.

The Net-Zero Communities Accelerator program, the work of QUEST Canada, a charity dedicated to supporting communities in Canada on their pathway to net zero, is designed to leverage the tools and resources already established at QUEST. The goal is to augment those tools through partnerships with other communities, to mobilize non-profits that have complementary tools, resources and capacity, and to address the gaps the QUEST Canada team’s research has identified.