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NRCan invests $80K to support Municipal Energy & Emission Database

May 17, 2021 – Natural Resources Canada announced an $80,000-investment in Sustainability Solutions Group to support the development of the Municipal Energy & Emission Database (MEED)—an integrated geospatial platform that tracks GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions for municipalities across Canada.

MEED was developed by Sustainability Solutions Group, a climate planning consultancy that has created community energy and emissions plans for over 60 municipalities, and whatIf? Technologies, players in energy, emissions and financial modelling.

Funding was provided by NRCan’s GeoConnections Program, which facilitates the sharing and use of geospatial information about “Canada’s lands, people and natural resources to support economic, social and environmental priorities”.

The platform supports open knowledge and data sharing among municipalities, says NRCan, particularly smaller- and medium-sized municipalities, allowing greater access to standardized data on energy use and GHG emissions to support land-use planning, policy development and program design.

“In the past, creating [GHG] inventories has been costly. Now, MEED is making inventories available free of charge so citizens, businesses and governments can get right down to fighting climate change,” said Yuill Herbert, Sustainability Solutions Group.

The dataset is a beta version, available for review and application by governments, industry and academics.