Goal 13: Climate Action
Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Related Sustainable Development Goals
Research
The Simpson Centre Carbon Program
The Simpson Centre received $1.17 million in funding from the Government of Alberta for the Simpson Centre’s Carbon Program. The program aims first to understand where Alberta’s agriculture industry baseline is for carbon emissions from various agriculture products and then develop policy recommendations to reduce those emissions.
Counteracting climate change through ecosystem restoration
Ecosystem restoration means preventing, halting and reversing this damage, shifting from exploiting nature to healing it. Only with healthy ecosystems can we enhance people’s livelihoods, counteract climate change and stop the collapse of biodiversity. Two UCalgary professors, alongside their students, are researching different ways to protect the natural world through ecosystem restoration.
Teaching, learning and student experience
English student explores how we understand climate change through narrative
Understanding the climate crisis isn't only the domain of the environmental sciences. Climate change is increasingly woven into our self-understanding across forms of narrative, from literature and movies to social media. An English PhD student is exploring how we can explore this interdisciplinary situation.
Global Warming and Climate Change course
Through UCalgary Continuing Education, campus and community members can learn about the relationship between global warming and the release of greenhouse gases and the computer models used to make climate-change predictions.
Combating eco-grief
Mental health is another side-effect of environmental degradation. Many people may find themselves more aware of a form of grief related to worries about the state of the world’s environment. Known as ecological grief or “eco-grief,” these intense feelings can harm mental health, especially when current events such as a global pandemic or a natural disaster occur.
Campus and community impact
Campus
Guided by the UCalgary’s Climate Action Plan and the Institutional Sustainability Strategy the university is striving to attain net-carbon neutrality by 2050. Launched in 2019, the Utility Reduction Program is an existing building energy efficiency program. On completion in 2023, this $35M program is on track to provide over 25,000 tonnes of annual greenhouse gas emissions reduction and over $3M in annual utility cost avoidance.
Local
In the Communicating Around Climate Change working group, interdisciplinary researchers and educational leaders, including members from Fine Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences and Sciences, are working to address the issue of effectively communicating climate science for different populations.
International
Climate change is making mountain disasters more likely in areas of increased development. Previous snow and ice coverage in areas has now melted, leaving bedrock exposed and increasing the chances of detrimental rock slides. A UCalgary researcher took part in an international study examining the causes, scope and impact of the massive 2021 landslide in India’s Chamoli district.