Goal 13 - Institutional Stewardship Initiatives
Institutional Stewardship Initiatives
Adaptation Resilience Training
Each year, the Adaptation Resilience Training provides 30+ recent graduates from across Alberta with an eight month paid internship working to prepare Alberta for the impacts of climate change. This program gives recent students workplace experience that will help them continue jobs in the climate adaptation field.
Climate Change and Health Hub
The University of Alberta Climate Change and Health Hub includes faculty, staff, and students who are passionate about addressing climate change and its effects on health. The Hub collaborates with researchers, communities, practitioners, and policymakers on how climate change affects health as well as health-related adaptation and mitigation strategies.
The Hub also provides evidence-based educational resources to the university community and the public, and engages in public awareness campaigns about climate action relating to health outcomes, adaptation, mitigation and resilience strategies.
Sustainability Council Lecture Series
The Sustainability Council Lecture Series is an educational series which explores local and global perspectives on sustainability, equity and climate action. The Lecture Series features researchers and practitioners from the University of Alberta and elsewhere in various fields.
Energy Transition Leadership Network
The Energy Transition Leadership Network is a group of more than 100 leaders who work in commercial, industrial, non-profit, educational and institutional sectors. They represent organizations who are passionate about the City of Edmonton's energy transition strategy, with members working together to turn ideas into action. The U of A is represented by members of the Sustainability Council and Energy Management & Sustainable Operations.
Forest Reserve
The University of Alberta has reserved approximately eight hectares of land on the south bank of the North Saskatchewan River adjacent to North Campus. This land is set aside and will not be developed, sequestering approximately 55 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per year. In addition, reserving this land maintains an unbroken length of the river valley, helping to preserve wildlife habitat and biodiversity.
Greenhouse gas emissions reduction plan
In 2014, the university set a goal to reduce emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels by the year 2020, matching the Government of Canada's goal set under the Copenhagen Accord. As a globally recognized leader in post-secondary education and research, and a leader in sustainability, the University of Alberta plans to align future reductions plans with changing government commitments.
Greenhouse gas emissions reporting
The University of Alberta released detailed greenhouse gas emissions inventory reports for its baseline year (2005–06) and first reporting year (2012–13) and publishes its annual inventory numbers in a public GHG Emissions Dashboard. The inventory allows Facilities & Operations to better plan for reductions, manage sustainability data and support sustainability reporting.
La Cité Résiliente
La Cité Résiliente: A Decade in Transition was a bilingual, community-based energy transition project organized by Campus Saint-Jean professor Sheena Wilson. The project brought together university and community members to respond directly to the City of Edmonton’s materials on climate resiliency, imagining the possibilities and opportunities for community engagement on climate change. The project helped the University of Alberta’s francophone campus adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Energy Reduction Master Plan
The University of Alberta’s Energy Reduction Master Plan is the current strategic approach for energy management and sustainability at the University and the greater community of which it is a part of.
The Plan outlines various initiatives and projects aimed at reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The plan outlines tactics for establishing the University of Alberta as an innovative leader in addressing climate change through various climate actions and strategies.