Urban Climate Leadership (UCL) outlines eight key policy recommendations for a Made-in-BC heat pump strategy that emerged from the fifth Dialogue Session at SFU Vancouver Climate Day. The strategy brings together bold retrofit targets, workforce development, blended finance, and public engagement to protect residents and build a resilient retrofit economy.

Urban Climate Leadership (UCL) is advancing a Made-in-BC blended finance model that unlocks large-scale investment in building retrofits. By aligning public, private, and philanthropic capital, UCL’s approach transforms the retrofit challenge into an engine for good jobs, affordability, and climate resilience.

Artificial intelligence is transforming how Canadian cities plan, manage, and deliver services. But what does this mean for equitable climate action? Urban Climate Leadership (UCL) shares insights from recent dialogues with local governments, nonprofits, and the private sector on opportunities, challenges, and the environmental impact of AI approaches.

Read about our recent dialogues and join us at the SFU Vancouver Climate Day on September 26.

Sarah Law, UCL’s former Program Associate, reflects on what is missing from mainstream climate forums: honest conversations about grief, fear, and hope. Drawing on her experience as a dialogue practitioner and youth climate organizer, she calls for spaces brave enough to hold the real emotions shaping our collective future.

Local governments are ready to deliver climate solutions, but they can’t do it alone. UCL’s 2025 pre-budget submission outlines how federal investment can power resilient cities and a thriving clean economy.

The climate era is reshaping our economy, deepening inequality, and testing our institutions. In our CleanBC submission, UCL calls for decisive, integrated action across government to position British Columbia as a global leader in a just, low-carbon future.

Recognizing that the AI landscape is evolving rapidly, UCL will host a dialogue this June bringing together local government staff, civil society, and private sector leaders.

Urban Climate Leadership (UCL) is proud to share that Shayna Rector Bleeker, Senior Advisor, Transportation, has been re-elected to the Board of Directors at Electric Mobility Canada (EMC).

Can B.C. tackle climate, affordability, and economic resilience all at once? We believe it can. But only if we move beyond pilot projects and start thinking at scale.

Our new Discussion Primer outlines the key questions and pathways to advance this big idea—a made-in-B.C. approach that rises to the urgency of the moment and delivers real, lasting benefits for people and communities. Read it here.

As we prepare for another season of extreme heat, the urgency to transition to heat pumps - an affordable, efficient, low carbon and reliable cooling solution for residents living in the most vulnerable buildings in BC - becomes paramount.

Urban Climate Leadership (UCL) is thrilled to welcome Wanjiru Munene as our new Communications Director.

Urban Climate Leadership (UCL) held its first multi-stakeholder dialogue, Solving Heat Pumps in Low-Rise Multi-Unit Residential Properties (MURBs) on May 14, 2024.