Canada has announced $75 million in new funding to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) to reduce emissions and build resilient, low-carbon communities.

“Today’s (March 2) announcement speaks to the federal government’s commitment to addressing climate change and FCM is extremely pleased to be called upon to deliver positive solutions in communities from coast to coast to coast,” stated FCM President Raymond Louie.

New funding means new programming that will offer grants to support studies, plans and pilot projects to enable better planning, analysis and decision-making related to municipal capital investments.

Capacity-building initiatives, such as workshops, case studies, conferences and webinars will complement the financial support.

FCM points out that local governments have direct or indirect influence over close to 50 per cent of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Canada, and the investment will help build cities and communities that lower GHG emissions and are more resilient.

“The way Canada’s cities and communities are built, renewed and managed over the coming decades will be critical to enabling a new green economy built on climate change mitigation and community resilience,” added Louie.