Climate Change Action
Spruce Grove strives to be a city that is a resilient, safe and attractive place to live, work and play, both now and into the future. A key part in this is taking action in the area of climate change, and finding ways to both care for our environment and commit to fostering an environmentally sustainable community.
What is Climate Change?
Climate change refers to persistent, long-term changes to the normal patterns of weather in a region. The consensus of the scientific community is that climate change is largely due to human activities that change the composition of the atmosphere and land-use, and to a lesser extent by natural processes and events such as volcanic eruptions.
Climate change is already changing our local weather patterns and will continue to do so in the future. Some of these changes provide beneficial opportunities to Spruce Grove, such a longer growing season and warmer winters. Other changes result in damaging impacts, such as increased flooding, increased periods of drought, extreme summer temperatures, more fires, and invasive species and pests.
Topics in this section
Climate Change Action Plan
Learn about how the City is preparing for the impacts of climate change.
Climate Adaptation Projects
Find out what the City is doing to support climate adaptation.
Water Conservation
Discover ways you can conserve water around your home and reduce your utility bill.
Climate Change Adaptation Action Ideas
Want to know what you can do? See what action you can take in adapting to Climate Change.
Single-Use Items Reduction
The City's Single-Use Items Reduction Bylaw came into effect on January 1, 2022, and bans the use of plastic checkout bags, plastic straws, and polystyrene food service ware.
Clean Energy Improvement Program
A program that is being developed to provide property owners with financing for energy efficient and renewable upgrades to their property.
Electric Vehicle Charging Stations
There are 12 electric vehicle charging stations located throughout Spruce Grove.
Stormwater Management and Safety
Stormwater ponds play an important role reducing certain risk associated with climate change and provide many environmental benefits for the city.
FAQs
Focus on managing the anticipated impact of climate change. The City has a variety of projects supporting climate adaptation, both completed and underway.
This refers to actions that will reduce the impacts of climate change. While some of these actions relate to pulling GHGs out of the atmosphere (eg. planting trees, or technological options such as carbon capture and storage), most solutions relate to reducing GHG emissions. This can involve finding sources of energy that emit fewer or no GHGs (geothermal, wind, solar, etc.) than current methods. It can also include reducing the amount of energy used (eg. using more energy efficient light bulbs, improving home insulation so less energy is needed to keep it warm, etc.).
Greenhouse gases, often shortened to GHGs, are gases that trap heat inside the atmosphere. They allow sunlight to pass through to the Earth’s surface, but they prevent the heat generated from escaping the atmosphere. The most common GHGs are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and water vapour.
Climate change is already changing our local weather patterns and will continue to do so in the future. Some of these changes provide beneficial opportunities, like a longer growing season and warmer winters. Other changes result in damaging impacts, such as increased flooding, increased periods of drought and extreme summer temperatures, more fires, and more pests and invasive species because of the warmer winters. According the the Government of Canada's National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report, despite the benefits provided by climate change, the overall social, economic and environmental consequences will be overwhelmingly negative.
The City of Spruce Grove has a long track record of being a responsible steward for both city residents and the city’s environment. Taking action to address climate change continues to helps the City accomplish both of these goals.
Questions?
Please send us an email.