YELLOWKNIFE (April 13, 2015) – Premier Bob McLeod and Minister of Environment and Natural Resources J.  Michael Miltenberger will participate in the ‘Sommet de Québec sur les changements climatiques’ in Québec City tomorrow.

“The Summit will be an opportunity to discuss the impacts of climate change in the North and share the work that is being done to mitigate and adapt to these impacts,” said Premier McLeod.  “I am looking forward to working with other provincial and territorial Premiers and Ministers to find ways to foster a low-carbon economy and address issues related to energy and climate change.”

Providing a Northern perspective on climate change in this national forum is important, as the North is experiencing some of the fastest warming of any region in the world. The exponential impacts of climate change on the North combines with factors like the high cost of energy and limited infrastructure to present challenges to the sustainability of rural and remote Northern communities.

“Sustainable communities are an important priority for our government,” said Minister Miltenberger. “We will continue to support mitigation and adaptation efforts to ensure NWT residents can live affordably, enjoy good health, economic opportunities and a healthy environment.”

The Northwest Territories has committed to reducing emissions and has been successful in reducing emissions from government operations by 30 percent between 2005 and 2011. Switching to biomass to heat public buildings has been a large part of this strategy and the NWT is now proportionately the highest user of biomass energy in Canada.

Recent assessments show we remain on track to meet our current greenhouse gas emission target of stabilizing emissions from all activities in the NWT at 2005 levels by 2015.

For backgrounder on NWT Energy click here. 

Media inquiries:
Roya Grinsted
Communications Officer
Government of the NWT
Tel: 867-669-2308
Email: roya_grinsted@gov.nt.ca