Canadian Communities Receive $12.1M in Climate Change Grants

As climate changes are continuing to occur throughout many regions of Canada, municipalities are developing and implementing innovative green solutions. This is to ensure communities are safe, healthy, and sustainable places for residents to live. To expand these efforts for environmentally friendly solutions, communities across Canada have recently received government support for climate change resiliency, green innovation, and infrastructure planning initiatives.

159 projects have been awarded a combined total of $12,114,008 through three programs providing innovation grants for municipalities.

Three federal government funding programs from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities are providing the support for these 159 initiatives; these are the Municipalities for Climate Innovation Program (MCIP), Green Municipal Fund (GMF), and the Municipal Asset Management Program (MAMP). The support from these programs will help reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, strengthen current infrastructure, and improve local priorities like waste management and public transport.

Municipalities Receive $12.1M in Funding for Cleantech Initiatives

A total of 159 projects are receiving a combined $12,114,008 in support through three well-known programs to support municipal government projects. Funding is distributed via three programs, including:

• Municipalities for Climate Innovation Program
• Green Municipal Fund
• Municipal Asset Management Program

Three of the recently-announced projects receiving funding for cleantech include:

Municipalities for Climate Innovation Program – Iroquois Falls, Ontario

($39,992) The town of Iroquois Falls will be using the climate change grants to execute state-of-the-art sensing technology to collect data on the road conditions. This will enable them to make more efficient assessments and educated investment decisions on roadway infrastructure.

Green Municipal Fund – Beaconsfield, Quebec

($38,500) The city of Beaconsfield will be using the funding for cleantech to study ways to reduce organic waste disposal through smart collecting and incentive-based pricing. The goal is to have a 50% reduction of organic waste within the waste stream.

Municipal Asset Management Program – North Coast Regional District, British Columbia

($125,000) The North Coast Regional District will be partnering with 31 local governments in British Columbia along the route from Kamloops to Haida Gwaii to study the possibility of developing an electric vehicle system of fast-charging stations. They will be testing out the integration of solar panel canopies, which would enable residents and visitors to drive cars power-driven by sunshine.

Canadian Government Funding Through the Federation of Canadian Municipalities

The Municipalities for Climate Innovation Program, Green Municipal Fund, and the Municipal Asset Management Program are three programs available from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities providing communities with support for climate change, asset management, and sustainability initiatives.

Municipalities for Climate Innovation Program

The Municipalities for Climate Innovation Program (MCIP) provides grants for projects supporting climate change initiatives and reduced greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).

The Municipalities for Climate Innovation Program provides up to 80% of project costs in funding for climate change projects.

Applications are currently only open for the Plans and Studies and Capital Project streams for Quebec municipalities only.

Green Municipal Fund

The Green Municipal Fund (GMF) is a Canadian government funding program that provides financial support to municipalities demonstrating an innovative solution or approach to environmental issues.

The Green Municipal Fund offsets up to 50-80% of eligible project costs incurred by municipalities completing environmental projects.

The initial review form deadline for energy, waste, water, and transportation capital projects is March 1, 2019, and the application (by invitation) is to be submitted by May 1, 2019.

Municipal Asset Management Program

The Municipal Asset Management Program (MAMP) provides funding for projects that will help Canadian municipalities of all sizes make informed investment decisions for infrastructure properties such as roads, buildings, and water supply.

The Municipal Asset Management Program provides funding for up to 80% of total eligible project costs, to a maximum of $50,000.

The application deadline for municipalities outside Quebec is October 23, 2018, and for Quebec municipalities is April 1, 2019.

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