Take Action Burlington

Today, June 5, 2023, marks the fiftieth year since World Environment Day was declared by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to raise awareness and generate political momentum around growing environmental concerns. This week, June 4 to 10, 2023, also marks Canadian Environment Week which was established in 1971 to celebrate Canada’s environmental accomplishments and encourage Canadians to contribute to conserving and protecting their environment.

The City of Burlington is pleased to announce that it has achieved all reporting badges from the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM) for our work on climate mitigation and adaptation.

GCoM is a coalition of City leaders around the world who are tackling climate change by pledging to cut greenhouse gas emissions (mitigation) and prepare for the future impacts of climate change (adaptation).

The City of Burlington’s history with GCoM

In 2020, Burlington was one of 25 Canadian municipalities selected to participate in GCoM Canada’s Showcase Cities pilot program. By joining GCoM and participating in this pilot, the City was recognized as a leader on local climate action both nationally and internationally and in 2022 was awarded the Mitigation badges for inventory, target and plan (Climate Action Plan) upon program completion.

In 2023, Burlington was awarded all Adaptation badges for assessment, goal, and plan (Climate Resilient Burlington: A Plan for Adapting to Our Warmer, Wetter and Wilder Weather). We also received our Compliance badge for our ongoing work on actions in the Climate Action Plan (Sustainable Building and Development Guidelines, Electric Mobility Strategy, the Integrated Mobility Plan and Better Homes Burlington) and in the Corporate Energy and Emissions Management Plan.  

About GCoM and partners

The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM) is the largest global alliance for climate leadership, uniting a global coalition of over 11,500 cities and local governments. By 2050, GCoM cities and local governments could collectively reduce 3.8 billion tons of CO₂ emissions per year compared to business as usual, equivalent to more than half of all GHG emissions in the United States in 2019.

The Global Covenant of Mayors Canada is a collaboration between the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability, the Global Covenant of Mayors Secretariat and the International Urban Cooperation Project supported by funding from the European Union.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities is the national voice of municipal governments, with more than 2,100 members representing more than 92 per cent of the Canadian population.

ICLEI- Local Governments for Sustainability is an international association of local governments committed to sustainability. The Canada offices work with local governments across the country to meet with their sustainability objectives.