Charting Calgary’s Low Carbon Future – Round Table Summit Series

imagineCALGARY Partners began talking and sharing their experiences around environmental sustainability at a Peer Learning Event January 27th. The Inspiring Action: Collective Results meeting organized by the Collaborative Action Committee gave imagineCALGARY Partners a chance to share the success they have achieved towards the imagineCALGARY targets related to sustainability. The event was also an opportunity for Partners to provide suggestions and direction for the future.

The next step in this discussion took place from May 4th to 9th with Calgary's Low Carbon Future Roundtable Series. This event included participation from more than 120 Calgarians representing businesses, government, non-government and communities. This roundtable event marked the end of convening collective discussions with key stakeholder groups and represented the beginning of defining demonstrative actions that will provide the framework for charting Calgary’s low carbon future.

The next steps in creating a low carbon future for the community will include presenting results at a sustainability summit scheduled for September 18th, 2009 at SAIT. This summit will aim to define priorities and set timelines for action. The work delivered here will form the basis of a multi-year roadmap and implementation plan to promote sustainability and reduce Calgary’s ecological footprint.

Once this draft is ratified, it will represent a community-wide strategy for everyone to consider and include in decision-making around sustainability. The results of these round tables will also contribute to the development of a community Greenhouse Gas Plan and will provide input into the creation of a local business environmental strategy.