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News Release

QUEST Chosen by FCM to Help Six Communities Adapt to the Impacts of Climate Change

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Apr 23, 2018

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QUEST – Quality Urban Energy Systems of Tomorrow is pleased to announce that it will be working with six municipalities and their utilities in Alberta and in New Brunswick to strengthen their resilience to climate change and become Smart Energy Communities. By turning our communities into Smart Energy Communities, we can improve energy efficiency, cut costs, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Canada.

The six municipalities and their utilities include the City of the City of Campbellton, New Brunswick; the Town of Cochrane, Alberta; the Town of Devon, Alberta; the Town of Okotoks, Alberta; the Town of Tracadie, New Brunswick; and the City of Saint John, New Brunswick.

By turning our communities into Smart Energy Communities, we can improve energy efficiency, cut costs, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Canada.
QUEST was selected by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) through their Climate Adaptation Partner Grants to work with these municipalities and their utilities to align their approaches for community adaptation and resilience planning as part of QUEST’s Municipalities and Utilities Partnering for Community Resilience initiative.

Municipalities and utilities are on the front lines of responding to climate change and require the tools and assessment processes to reduce risk, respond to emergencies, maximize limited funding, and lower overall costs to residents and businesses.

Community resilience will provide participating municipalities with:

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A hazard, risk, and vulnerability assessment.
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A risk reduction strategy with a focus on reducing the impact of climate change on energy and an approach to working with local utilities.
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Guidance on the implementation of the risk reduction strategy.
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Access to a network of municipalities from across Canada that are actively working with their utilities to respond to the impacts of climate change.
Community resilience will advance the implementation of climate adaptation measures for reducing impacts to municipal infrastructure, utilities that service them, and the community at large. FCM’s Municipalities for Climate Innovation Program (MCIP), delivered by FCM and funded by the Government of Canada, is a five-year, $75-million program designed to support and encourage Canadian municipalities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change.

“Municipalities and utilities (gas, electric, thermal, and water) have begun to explore how to align their respective processes for adaptation and resilience planning, but there remains a critical gap in Canadian based tools and processes to support this type of planning. QUEST is excited to work with municipalities and their utilities to develop resources that will fill this gap and establish a national guideline for how to work together on adaptation.”

Brent Gilmour

Executive Director, QUEST

“Cochrane is excited to participate in the Municipalities and Utilities Partnering for Community Resilience initiative. It’s always valuable to explore better ways to be resilient as a community. By working with other municipalities and industry experts, we can become even better at responding to the changing needs of our community."

Mayor Jeff Genung

Town of Cochrane, Alberta

“Campbellton is committed to becoming an energy-smart and sustainable city and we are excited to be involved in the Municipalities and Utilities Partnering for Community Resilience initiative with QUEST and FCM. It will help our community reach our climate adaptation goals.”

Mayor Stephanie Anglehart-Paulin

City of Campbellton, New Brunswick

“I am excited about Devon’s involvement in the Municipalities and Utilities Partnering for Community Resilience initiative. Mitigating risk and planning for our future will allow us to offer a high quality of life and service to our residents for years to come.”

Mayor Ray Ralph

The Town of Devon, Alberta

“Okotoks is excited to be part of this national project partnership and is looking forward to evolving our understanding of the risks climate change poses on our infrastructure, environment and social fabric. This program will assist Okotoks in becoming a more adaptive and resilient community.”

Elaine Vincent, CAO

The Town of Okotoks, Alberta

“Because of our geographical position, we are vulnerable to the winds and tides as well as to the winter conditions that our rural and coastal environment gives us. We must adapt our behaviour to climate change and our participation in this project is one way to plan it.”

Daniel Hachey

General Manager, Municipalité régionale de Tracadie

“The City of Saint John is taking a leadership role in sustainable energy management and climate change mitigation/adaptation with a series of policy initiatives both under development and already underway. Saint John is thrilled to be working with FCM and QUEST on the Community Resilience Initiative to further strengthen the city’s infrastructure and community resilience to the effects of climate change."

Samir Yammine, Manager of Asset and Energy Management

The City of Saint John, New Brunswick

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