The Meeting the Climate Change Challenge (MC3) project is holding an innovative Peer Learning Exchange, bringing over forty climate leaders and champions together to exchange information about the drivers of climate action and innovation in BC. The Exchange will be held at Royal Roads University on January 18th. Municipal staff from leading communities and second wave communities, along with regional and provincial government staff, non-governmental organizations, private consultants and pre-eminent scholars, together, will explore how communities are seizing opportunities and overcoming constraints to fulfill climate change objectives. The group will explore unique policy, technical, institutional and social climate innovations occurring across the province, exchange effective tools for encouraging climate action and share lessons with a mobilizing community of practice.
This workshop is designed as a peer forum bringing together diverse knowledge among climate leaders and champions to be brought together from a cross-section of BC communities across the province to exchange, discuss and reflect upon innovative climate solutions being undertaken to meet the climate change challenge. Key questions include: What innovations are leading BC communities taking on climate change? What are the drivers and how can other communities learn from these examples? How are these actions changing the way things are done and how decisions are made at the local scale? The combined intellectual, contextual and practical knowledge is expected to contribute to a strategic and enriching final report on Innovations and New Paths Forward for Climate Action in BC. The outcomes from the learning exchange will also be used as input data for the Meeting the Climate Change Challenge research project and also for a strategic briefing note for the Province on tools and strategies to accelerate climate leadership in BC.
Workshop Schedule
11:00am to 11:10am - Welcome by Professor Ann Dale, Principal Investigator
11:10am to 11:40am - MC3 Panel: What did we learn?
Ann Dale (Moderator)
Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Community Development, School of Environment and Sustainability, Royal Roads University
Prof. John Robinson
Associate Vice Provost, Sustainability, Centre for Interactive Research for Sustainability, University of British Columbia
Dr. Meg Holden
Associate Professor, Urban Studies, Department of Environment, Simon Fraser University
Dr. Sarah Burch
Banting Scholar | Research Associate, Centre for Interactive Research for Sustainability, University of British Columbia
Dr. Alison Shaw
MC3 Research Manager | Associate, School of Environment and Sustainability, Royal Roads University
Dr. Chris Ling
NMAP Co-investigator & Professor, School of Environment and Sustainability, Royal Roads University
11:40am to 12:25pm - Policy Roundtables
Pre-assigned round tables to exchange and prioritize top 3 climate innovations in the province (including policy, organizational, technological, financial and social innovations).
1:00pm to 1:40pm - Panel on Tools, Techniques and Innovations
Smart Tools for Climate Action: Ben Finkelstein
Manager, Green Communities, Climate Action Secretariat
Financial Planning Instruments: Isabel Gordon
Director of Finance, City of North Vancouver
Visualization Techniques: Dr. Stephen Sheppard
Professor | Director of Collaborative for Advanced Landscape Visualizations, University of British Columbia
1:40pm to 3:00pm - Learning Exchange: Nuggets of Gold
Each round table identifies one leading climate innovation that reduces emissions and builds local resilience, and discusses the following questions for reporting back:
- What was the key driver that made it work?
- What was a barrier that needed to be overcome?
- What is your innovative solution or policy change recommendation that emerges from this example?
3:00pm to 3:30pm - Roundtables Reporting Back
3:30pm to 3:45pm - Concluding Remarks
Network Learning Video
Following the event, participants were invited to comment on the learning exchange process and these insights were captured through video interviews, and these interviews were used to create this animation, Network Learning: Linking Research with Practice.
A static image of the mind map used to create the animation can be accessed here.
Resources and References
Meeting the Climate Change Challenge (MC3) case studies.
National Muncipal Adaptation Project webpage.
The Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS) webpage.
Return to the Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Dialogues page.