Last week, the Pembina Institute was pleased to host our third annual Alberta Climate Summit in Calgary.
The event sold out with over 500 registered attendees and significant media turnout. The popularity of the event speaks to Albertans’ interest in climate action and the economic opportunities around broadening Alberta’s energy mix, a growing understanding of the global trends, as well as Pembina’s long standing record in convening thought leaders from industry, government and civil society.
There were over 30 engaging presenters, giving the crowd much food for thought on the innovations and opportunities that are modernizing Alberta’s energy sector. This year’s summit showcased successes underway in Alberta, and inspired participants to play an active role in Alberta’s transition to a clean energy future. This idea was brought to life with a sneak preview of our interactive New Energy Projects map, which has over 100 clean energy projects across the province. Stay tuned for the map’s official release, coming within the next month.
One of the highlights of the day included a new feature of the summit: the Energy Changemakers panel, supported by RBC. The panel had five youths, ages 18-23 pitching their ideas for a clean energy future to an audience that was all ears and responded with a rousing standing ovation.
We were pleased to stand with the Minister of Environment and Parks, Shannon Phillips as she announced at the summit a new program offering Albertans savings for energy efficient products.
George Marshall, founder of Climate Outreach, ended the day on a positive note and spoke compellingly about how we can communicate energy and climate issues to engage more people. More information about his session can be found in this CBC article. He had the audience’s complete attention.
The day also proved that climate action is a non-partisan issue, with the panel A Conservative Case for Climate Action that brought together Danielle Smith, Mark Cameron and Jean-Sebastien Rioux to talk about policy options and how the conversation can move forward with all panelists supportive of putting a price on carbon pollution.
We hope everyone that attended found the day as energizing and motivating as we did. We look forward to continuing the conversation and continuing to work on Alberta’s clean energy transition.
We put together a short highlight video of the day, which you can see here. Photos from the day can be found here.
