On December 8th, CAFES' Executive Director, Angela Keller-Herzog, delegated at the Environment and Climate Change Committee on the topic of Ottawa's 2026 budget.
In our delegation, we noted many positive elements in the budget, such as flood prevention, investments in waste reduction and diversion, and investments in greening the municipal fleet.
We raised the concern that the draft budget provides no breakdown of the $9 million funding allocated to the Climate Change Master Plan (CCMP), and lack of clarity on resourcing for Energy Evolution and Climate Ready Ottawa actions. Staff provided a breakdown during the committee meeting in response to questions by councillors, but we recommended that staff publish an implementation breakdown for further transparency. We also recommended that the City require a clear linkage between spending and climate outcomes, as well as adequate human resources for planning the next period CCMP "refresh" between 2027-2032.
Check out the CAFES delegation presentation below. Ecology Ottawa was also present at the committee meeting and delivered a thorough delegation which can be found on their website.
City Council approved the 2026 budget on December 10th. Stay tuned on further updates by visiting the Engage Ottawa page.
