Environment ministers Steven Guilbeault and Benoit Charette, and Montreal mayor Valérie Plante, are among the participants at the Montreal Climate Summit, taking place at the Grand Quai du Port on Tuesday and Wednesday.
More than 900 people from the business, philanthropic, labor, political, community, environmental and civil society communities are expected to attend the event, now in its third year.
The Quebec government on Tuesday morning announced financial assistance of nearly $10 million to Énergir chaleur et climatisation urbaines (ÉCCU) for a heat recovery and reclamation project that the CAQ believes will reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 10,000 tonnes in downtown Montreal.
The Energir subsidiary will install two electric boilers and a heat recovery and reclamation system.
ÉCCU operates Montreal’s thermal power plant, providing heating and cooling to more than a third of downtown Montreal.
In a press release, the office of the Quebec Minister of the Environment indicated that the installation of “two electric boilers producing hot water and steam from renewable energy sources will enable the company to optimize its energy consumption”.
According to the government, nearly 2 million square meters of downtown buildings are supplied by the network.
“By retaining its natural gas facilities, ÉCCU will be able to offset the demand for hydroelectricity during peak periods by maintaining the use of its natural gas operations,” reads the press release.
The Climat Montréal Summit is organized by Partenariat Climat Montréal, in collaboration with the Ville de Montréal and other partners.
The aim of the summit is “to bring solutions to light, measure collective progress and share lessons learned and pitfalls, with a view to accelerating Montreal’s climate transition”.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews