Governments of Canada and Northwest Territories announce funding to fight climate change and save money for homeowners, businesses, and communities

Press Release

From: Environment and Climate Change Canada

October 11, 2018 – Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

Canadians need help in making their homes and businesses more energy efficient and investing in solutions that can help fight climate change. The Government of Canada and the Government of the Northwest Territories are working together to support residents and businesses in these efforts.

Today, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, joined the Minister of Infrastructure, Wally Schumann, and the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Robert C. McLeod, to announce a federal investment of over $23 million for programs that will support energy efficiency retrofits, renewable energy, and forest regeneration.

The Government of Canada’s Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund will support five Northwest Territories programs that take climate action:

1. New and enhanced Arctic Energy Alliance programs and services will expand existing initiatives and create new energy efficiency programs for commercial and residential buildings, such as energy rebates and incentives, winterization upgrades for low-income owner-occupied homes, and new electric heat incentives for commercial buildings.
2. Energy efficiency upgrades for public housing will support energy efficiency and heating-fuel substitution in territorially owned public housing.
3. A government greenhouse gas fund will support larger energy efficiency retrofits in territorial, community, and Indigenous government buildings.
4. Active carbon sequestration in forestry will focus on forest regeneration and maximizing forest growth.
5. Energy efficiency upgrades to the Government of Northwest Territories’s marine vessels will support energy efficiency upgrades and reduce emissions of two ferries and one tugboat in its fleet.

The Government of the Northwest Territories is investing an additional $7.4 million to support these programs, which help families and businesses make environmentally friendly changes that benefit the economy and the environment.

The Government of Canada’s Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund provides $1.4 billion to provinces and territories that have adopted Canada’s clean-growth and climate action plan, the Pan-Canadian Framework, to deliver on commitments that tackle climate change, increase economic growth, and create good middle-class jobs.

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