Barely a week after being elected vice-president of a group dedicated to transitioning energy cities from fossil fuels, Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek is already spreading the gospel of decarbonization.After initial hesitation, Gondek claims she “marshalled the political will” that prompted the city’s energy sector to embrace her 2021 climate declaration in a three minute video posted to YouTube.“Frankly, we talked about having a climate plan, a Climate Declaration, and we were caught in a place where we thought that the message we were putting out might be perceived in a negative manner by the energy sector. And so we really didn't do much in terms of pushing for a Climate Declaration until 2021,” she said.“What happened when we made that declaration was a lot of pushback for people who see things as black and white or good or bad. So if you are declaring a climate emergency, ‘you obviously must be anti energy sector’, is how it was portrayed, and that's the polarization that occurred.”.But now she claims even staunch opponents are now leading the way to fulfilling her admittedly ambitious clean air objectives.“We were strong enough to get through that, and we were able to change the narrative and talk about the fact that the energy sector has actually been the one that's leading the transformation of clean energy, and how we do things in a more responsible manner,” she continues.“So we actually changed the narrative and said that Calgary is the place you want to be if you want to practice clean tech, if you want to practice the innovations that are needed to truly transform the energy sector. We've gotten a lot of attention internationally for being a city that is clean tech friendly.”Last week, Gondek was elected vice president of the World Energy Cities Partnership (WECP) while in Norway on what her office called a “trade mission.” .The aim of the group is to help cities — like Houston and Aberdeen, Scotland — that rely on fossil fuels for economic development to transition to renewable energy sources.The irony is that she was in Stavanger, home to the Norwegian state oil company Equinor which simultaneously announced plans to spend CAD$10 billion a year for the next ten years developing offshore oil and gas fields.To put it into perspective, that’s the equivalent of a 100,000 barrel per oil sands project every year for the next ten years in Alberta.Although her video bore the watermark of ‘TheFutureEconomy.ca’ — a group that covers broader transformations in the economy, including AI, medicine and education — Gondek’s message more closely aligns with the mandate of the WECP.The overall tone is almost utopian. Gondek claims if the city were to spend $5 billion in the tech sector it could potentially generate 170,000 new jobs and generate $61 billion in GDP.“I think if we focus on the positive results we're seeing, we might be in a better place, and that way everyone can get on board with the mission at hand.”
Barely a week after being elected vice-president of a group dedicated to transitioning energy cities from fossil fuels, Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek is already spreading the gospel of decarbonization.After initial hesitation, Gondek claims she “marshalled the political will” that prompted the city’s energy sector to embrace her 2021 climate declaration in a three minute video posted to YouTube.“Frankly, we talked about having a climate plan, a Climate Declaration, and we were caught in a place where we thought that the message we were putting out might be perceived in a negative manner by the energy sector. And so we really didn't do much in terms of pushing for a Climate Declaration until 2021,” she said.“What happened when we made that declaration was a lot of pushback for people who see things as black and white or good or bad. So if you are declaring a climate emergency, ‘you obviously must be anti energy sector’, is how it was portrayed, and that's the polarization that occurred.”.But now she claims even staunch opponents are now leading the way to fulfilling her admittedly ambitious clean air objectives.“We were strong enough to get through that, and we were able to change the narrative and talk about the fact that the energy sector has actually been the one that's leading the transformation of clean energy, and how we do things in a more responsible manner,” she continues.“So we actually changed the narrative and said that Calgary is the place you want to be if you want to practice clean tech, if you want to practice the innovations that are needed to truly transform the energy sector. We've gotten a lot of attention internationally for being a city that is clean tech friendly.”Last week, Gondek was elected vice president of the World Energy Cities Partnership (WECP) while in Norway on what her office called a “trade mission.” .The aim of the group is to help cities — like Houston and Aberdeen, Scotland — that rely on fossil fuels for economic development to transition to renewable energy sources.The irony is that she was in Stavanger, home to the Norwegian state oil company Equinor which simultaneously announced plans to spend CAD$10 billion a year for the next ten years developing offshore oil and gas fields.To put it into perspective, that’s the equivalent of a 100,000 barrel per oil sands project every year for the next ten years in Alberta.Although her video bore the watermark of ‘TheFutureEconomy.ca’ — a group that covers broader transformations in the economy, including AI, medicine and education — Gondek’s message more closely aligns with the mandate of the WECP.The overall tone is almost utopian. Gondek claims if the city were to spend $5 billion in the tech sector it could potentially generate 170,000 new jobs and generate $61 billion in GDP.“I think if we focus on the positive results we're seeing, we might be in a better place, and that way everyone can get on board with the mission at hand.”
