Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek, a strong advocate for her city as a global leader in clean technologies and decarbonization, has been elected vice-president of the World Energy Cities Partnership (WECP).
An alliance of cities that house the world’s largest energy companies, the WECP announced Gondek’s selection as VP last month in Norway, reports the Calgary Herald.
Canada is a dominant presence in the WECP, with Calgary, Halifax, and St. John’s among its 18 “energy-centric” cities. China also has three cities in the partnership, including Dongying, home of the country’s second largest oil field and the Yellow River Delta Migratory Bird Sanctuary, a World Heritage site.
“It’s an honour to be named vice-president of the WECP, and to put Calgary at the forefront during a pivotal time in worldwide energy transition,” Gondek said in a statement. “In this role, I’ll be able to help lend Calgary’s expertise to the world, and help accelerate the transfer of knowledge we have in this city to other cities in the realm of cleantech and decarbonization.”
Gondek said she hopes Calgary will bid to host next year’s WECP annual general meeting, which she said “would be a great way to ensure that we stay on the map from a global perspective.”
Presented as a “city of limitless opportunities” on the WECP website, Calgary is said to be an “ideal city for companies and people looking to grow and thrive” thanks to its skilled STEM workforce, world-class research institutions, attractive tax and business-friendly advantages, and “an unparalleled quality of life.” Calgary is also positioned as a global leader of cleantech. Carbon capture and storage, hydrogen, and digital transformation all figure strongly in the city’s WECP biography.
Other cities with diverse energy interests are WECP members. Some, like Luanda, Angola, have decades-old ties with oil extraction, though the heavily-rivered country also celebrates the “enormous” export potential of its hydroelectric reserves.
While Barranquilla, Colombia, foregrounds its offshore gas reserves, an excerpt about Cape Town prioritizes the energy transition. It provides a detailed snapshot of how the city is already walking its talk on carbon neutrality by 2050. The South African capital of nearly five million people hosts the Atlantis Special Economic Zone for green tech manufacturing and has big plans for hydrogen and solar, according to the WECP website.
Perth, Australia’s bio reveals a formerly fossil fuel-dependent jurisdiction pivoting hard into the energy transition. It leads with methane-heavy liquefied natural gas, but also mentions its premiere position as a global supplier of critical minerals. Perth also spotlights its current and future wind capacity, as well as is its rapidly expanding solar and storage sectors.
