Most candidates for mayor and council said they would aim to balance climate change with other goals in response to the question Which of the following comes closest to how you would incorporate climate change into decision-making? in Taproot's candidate survey.
Seventeen candidates said The climate crisis must be a consideration in every single decision, including just two mayoral candidates, Ronald Stewart Billingsley, Jr and Andrew Knack.
Meanwhile, 43 candidates said The climate is important, but must be balanced with other goals. Out of the seven incumbent council candidates that completed the survey, Erin Rutherford was the only one to select this answer. The mayoral candidates who selected this answer are Paul Bakhmut, Tim Cartmell, Tony Caterina, Rahim Jaffer, Omar Mohammad, Utha Nadauk, Olney Tugwell, and Michael Walters.
Ten candidates said that A climate lens on all decisions would create unacceptable costs and delays. Those candidates are Rob Fediuk, James Gosse, Andy Andrzej Gudanowski, Danny Heikkinen, Mark Hillman, Terrie Holgerson, Albert Mazzocca, Lana Palmer, Thu Parmar, and Diana Steele.
Mayoral candidates Abdul Malik Chukwudi and Vanessa Denman skipped the question.
As of this writing, 22 candidates have not yet completed the survey.
Climate resilience is a goal in ConnectEdmonton, the city's strategic plan for 2019 to 2028. Before the current council's term, in 2019, the previous council declared a climate emergency. During the current term, council approved new climate-focused procedures and the Climate Resilience Planning and Development Action Plan. It also tabled its first carbon budget, which forecast that the city is not on track to hit its targets. One report found that many city buildings are vulnerable to climate-related hazards; another showed that a majority of Edmontonians remain concerned about climate change.