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Check out this month’s newsletter for info about how you can earn a credential, connect with colleagues, or maybe even receive an award for your hard work. If that’s not enough, read on to learn about a potential new source of cash for your community.
There’s no need to keep all this great info to yourself. Forward this newsletter to a friend or colleague and invite them to subscribe.
Opportunities - The Stanley Cup of climate action
- Money in your pocket
- Fostering climate leadership in smaller communities
- Charging the Island
- First Nations pursue low-carbon transportation
- Making home energy retrofits easy
- Getting the word out on Invermere’s organics program
Coming Up
- Retrofit Canada Conference
- CEA’s Annual General Meeting
- Peer Network meetings
| | | | | | | | | | The Stanley Cup of climate action
Let’s say you work to advance initiatives in your community related to climate and energy, and you think you’re pretty good. How do you prove it? How do you show “the powers that be” and local residents that your community is doing some great things to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and simultaneously bolster the local economy, reduce costs, boost health, and enhance resilience? The answer is simple: Nominate a project for CEA’s climate and energy action awards. You have until noon on July 14.
All of the eligible nominations will be profiled in this newsletter in August and then the winners will be announced at the UBCM convention in Victoria. In other words, you’d have to win the Stanley Cup to get more exposure 😉.
Check out the awards page for more info and get those nominations in!
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Money in your pocket
Communities and public sector organizations that own and operate electric vehicle chargers earn carbon credits that can be sold on the BC low-carbon fuel standard carbon market. The problem is: the number of credits can be too small to attract purchasers. One solution is pooling the credits with others, selling the increased number of credits, and sharing the revenue proportionate to the number of credits contributed to the pool.
That’s exactly what CEA’s Carbon Credits Aggregation Service does!
The program was launched in March and so far includes the District of Oak Bay, City of Port Moody, Tslei-Waututh Nation, North Cowichan, and the Comox Valley Regional District. It’s not too late to join and EV charger owners can assign credits generated in 2024 and previous years to CEA. More participation equals more credits and hopefully a higher selling price per credit so it truly is a case of the more, the merrier.
Learn more about the low-carbon fuel standard and the benefits of pooling credits with other communities to reduce the hassle and maximize the pay-out. Follow the link or email lcfs@comunityenergy.ca.
| | | | | | | | Fostering climate leadership in smaller communities
CEA staff are applying their day-to-day experiences to a Simon Fraser University certificate program that’s preparing future climate action practitioners. Among the courses available to students in the online program is Climate Action in Smaller Communities, initiated by former CEAer Pat Bell, developed and taught by CEA staff Maya Chorobik and Andrea Hedley (pictured above), and currently being delivered to students from across Canada.
Smaller communities are dealing with tangible risks associated with climate change, but they also have a spirit of collaboration and a connection to nature that can motivate and accelerate local climate action. These characteristics are explored in the course, which includes case studies from across Canada—some of which are current or former CEA projects.
Interested in the Climate Action in Smaller Communities course or the Climate Action Certificate? SFU will be hosting an online info session on June 24, 2025.
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Charging the Island
Working with communities and local organizations to increase access to public EV charging stations has been a hallmark of CEA. A total of 250 charging ports have been added throughout BC, southern Alberta, and part of Ontario over the last several years as a result of CEA's collaborations with local governments and First Nations. In some communities, they were the first chargers to be publicly accessible.
Just this spring, a charging network through the middle of Vancouver Island was completed, featuring 55 charging ports in nearly a dozen communities from Tofino to Nanaimo to Campbell River. The Regional District of Nanaimo co-facilitated the project with CEA and included additional project partners from throughout the region: City of Campbell River, Comox Valley RD, City of Courtenay, District of Tofino, Town of Comox, City of Nanaimo, District of Ucluelet, and Village of Cumberland.
The first charger in the network was installed in Nanaimo in early 2022, and since then, all of the stations installed through this partnership have collectively provided enough electricity to enable more than 2.5 million kilometres of travel. None has been more popular than the charging station at the Comox Valley Aquatic Centre, which has provided more than 4500 individual charging sessions to date.
(Incidentally, further to the article above about the cash that can be earned by providing EV-chargers, the 55 ports in the mid-Island charging network have generated more than $135,000 worth of carbon credits to date based on the average carbon credit price over the past year.)
Funding for the stations has been provided by the participating local governments, the Province of BC, and the Government of Canada.
Photo: Charging at a park in Nanaimo, thanks to a collaborative involving local governments on Vancouver Island.
| | | | | | First Nations pursue low-carbon transportation
Delegates to the first-ever BC Assembly of First Nations low-carbon transportation forum last month heard how the transportation system is stacked against First Nations AND significantly contributes to climate change, but solutions were always top of mind.
This was especially true in a panel discussion (pictured above) that featured a transportation assessment report prepared by the BC AFN and CEA that outlined a wide variety of issues and opportunities, and included recommendations around 11 themes. Jeremy Johnston of CEA outlined the results of a survey of hundreds of respondents, which highlighted the prevalence of out-of-community travel, the high cost of transportation relative to the BC average, and the strong interest in public transit and shared transportation options.
The BC AFN low-carbon transportation project also includes opportunities for community-based pilot projects. Applications are due June 23, 2025. | | | | | | Getting the word out on Invermere’s organics program
The District of Invermere was ready and eager to implement a curbside organics program; they just needed help with the messaging to make sure the community understood the program, how to participate, and why it’s needed.
CEA staff helped craft the public messaging that accompanied the launch of the organics collection program earlier this month. Compostable materials make up 30% of the community’s waste so this program is a critical way for the District to decrease the community’s greenhouse gases and reduce the amount of waste heading to landfills.
| | | | | | | | Retrofit Canada Conference, June 9–10, 2025 in Toronto
CEA’s Jessica Martin-Thompson will be facilitating a roundtable discussion on the importance of training and capacity-building in rural and Indigenous communities. The session will showcase several community initiatives aimed at increasing the local knowledge, skills and practices needed to create efficient, healthy, and resilient homes while transforming the retrofit sector. | | | | CEA’s Annual General Meeting, June 19, 2025
The election of a new CEA Board of Directors, presentation of the 2024 Annual Report and Financial Statements, and updates from CEA members are all items on the agenda for CEA’s AGM.
CEA members can register on Zoom. We will see you June 19, 2025 at 10 a.m. Pacific.
| | | | Peer Network meetings CEA facilitates a variety of networks that bring together people who work on climate and energy-related topics in local governments and Indigenous communities. Check out the full roster on our website and contact peernetworks@communityenergy.ca if you are interested in joining any of them.
Retrofit Peer Network
June 12, 2025 10 a.m. Pacific a review of home energy retrofit concierge programs in BC and the opportunities to support and scale up retrofits
Resilience Peer Network
June 13, 2025 10 a.m. Pacific Supporting local governments and Indigenous communities to advance climate adaptation and resilience as well as emergency management. The network also welcomes participation from others working in supporting roles, such as public sector agencies, utilities, health authorities, post-secondary and NGOs. This network is being supported by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Green Municipal Fund and the Government of Canada.
Building Officials Peer Network
June 17, 2025 1 p.m. Pacific
a review of how communities are addressing the BC Energy Step Code, the Zero Carbon Step Code, and other priorities
Digital Permitting Peer Network
June 18, 2025 9 a.m. Pacific
an overview of the business case for digital permitting in local governments
Alberta Climate Leaders: Staff Peer Network
June 20, 2025 1:30 p.m. Mountain Co-benefits of climate action and communicating the value of local climate action. More info: https://albertaclimateleaders.ca/peer-networks/staff-network/
Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities Climate Action Network
June 24, 2025 1 p.m. Pacific | | | | Our Commitment to Truth and Reconciliation
The Community Energy Association commits to the principles of Truth and Reconciliation. As an organization, we support the Calls to Action released by the
Truth and Reconciliation Commision of Canada
and recognize the importance of the self determination of Indigenous Peoples as articulated in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. | | Thank you for subscribing to the CEA Newsletter, our monthly update on local climate and energy initiatives connected to the Community Energy Association. No longer interested? You can easily unsubscribe or update your preferences | | | | | |
