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Featuring Ronak Patel<\/strong>, Program Manager, Sustainability Services \u2013 Municipal Climate Change Action Centre<\/em><\/p>\n Across the Canadian Prairies, local climate initiatives are emerging, shaped by each community’s unique context and needs. While local goals, priorities, and challenges may vary, a shared theme exists: people care deeply about the places they call home and want to make them more sustainable, resilient, and future\u2011ready. QUEST Canada\u2019s Net\u2011Zero Communities Accelerator program\u2019s NCA Prairies Cohort supports these communities in doing just that.<\/p>\n A group of 12 communities across the Prairie Provinces completed benchmark assessments in 2024 and 2025. These assessments offer a snapshot of where each community stands in its energy and emissions planning journey. The benchmark scores are shared in First Steps Toward Net-Zero Communities \u2013 A Benchmarking Case Study<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, published by QUEST Canada.<\/p>\n But there is a bigger story about collaboration, capacity building, and local leadership behind the numbers.<\/p>\n For Ronak Patel<\/strong>, Program Manager, Sustainability Services at Alberta Municipalities, this work is as much about empowering people as it is about lowering emissions. \u201cMy focus really is on capacity building,\u201d he says. \u201cEducation, planning, staffing – these sort of supports that we provide to communities… build their foundation for climate action.\u201d<\/p>\n The NCA Prairies Cohort demonstrates the diversity of local governments. \u201cWe have fairly large cities. We have very small towns. We have First Nations communities,\u201d Ronak notes about this group. That diversity is both a complexity and an opportunity \u2013 expanding the range of ideas, resources, and approaches that can be shared across the cohort. He and team members at Alberta Municipalities have been supporting Albertan participants in the cohort through the Municipal Climate Change Action Centre<\/a>.<\/p>\n Local priorities also vary widely. Some communities are drawn to climate action for environmental reasons. Others are driven by economic considerations, energy security, or the chance to deliver tangible benefits like improved mobility or better infrastructure. This reinforces a core principle of the NCA program: climate action resonates most when it is rooted in local context. \u201cWhatever the local priority is, we frame climate action through that lens,\u201d Ronak adds.<\/p>\n Different starting points, one thing in common<\/strong><\/p>\n Even with different starting points, motivations, and capacities, communities across the Canadian Prairies have one thing in common: a need for support. Local governments often operate with limited staff, limited resources, and vast geographic areas to serve. The purpose of the NCA program is not to prescribe solutions, but to partner with communities where they are and help them move forward.<\/p>\n The benchmark assessments completed by the Prairies cohort offer an implementation\u2011focused baseline. They reflect a community\u2019s current policies, systems, and initiatives, independent of who completed the report. Report authors\/contributors can include municipal departments, local utilities, Indigenous organizations, nonprofits, or grassroots groups.<\/p>\n \u201cMany of the scores are agnostic of who does the work,\u201d Ronak highlights, \u201cas long as progress is happening in that space.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/questcanada.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Benchmarking-Case-Study.png” title_text=”Benchmarking Case Study” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” width=”65%” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”15px” width=”70%” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin=”6px||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”|3px|36px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n First Steps Toward Net-Zero Communities \u2013 A Benchmarking Case Study<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0highlights momentum behind sustainability efforts. Some communities are starting to develop strategies, while others are moving forward with implementation. Labelling communities as Leaders, Doers, or Seekers helps customize support rather than rank participants. \u201cThe benchmark isn\u2019t about rankings,\u201d he emphasizes. \u201cIt\u2019s about understanding starting points and supporting growth.\u201d<\/p>\n This approach supports each community in making meaningful progress toward net-zero, specific to their strengths and areas for opportunities.<\/p>\n Collaboration is also central to the Prairies experience. The NCA program holds regular, online meetings with the primary contacts from each participating community to move the work forward, but gathering in person was a key program design. \u201cIn almost every workshop that we hosted,\u201d he shares, \u201cthere were a great number of stakeholders who came to support the energy planning work that we were doing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was really inspiring to see each of the communities bring multiple departments from their municipality, as well as, in some cases, external stakeholders.\u201d<\/p>\n The reality is that a lot of work is really being done at the grassroot level. The City of Lethbridge<\/a> stands out in his memory: municipal staff, nonprofit organizations like Environment Lethbridge<\/a>, developers, building sector advocates, and utility providers all filled the room. \u201cThis really highlights the context of this work not just being something for the municipality,\u201d Ronak emphasises, \u201cbut something that is for the region.\u201d<\/p>\n Cohorts create a space<\/strong><\/p>\n Many climate practitioners feel isolated, and meeting others with similar challenges can be very valuable. Cohorts also create a space to collaborate, especially when there are limited opportunities to connect across community borders.<\/p>\n Networks like the Alberta Climate Leaders Staff Peer Network<\/a> enable staff to connect, learn, and collaborate effectively on climate action. \u201cThis work is complex, it is challenging, it can be hard to do,\u201d Ronak reveals. \u201cBeing together reminds you that everyone is working on this together. You’re not siloed by yourself. There’s support happening across different industries, and you can reach out and ask questions and be able to really feel like you’re working collectively on a bigger problem.\u201d<\/p>\n