From Grey to Green: Green/Natural Infrastructure Gains a Foothold With The Release of The 2021 Federal Budget
Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, the industry association for professionals in the green roof and wall industry, is excited to announce a new keynote speaker, John Cuddihy, Director of Infrastructure Canada at the Grey to Green Conference June 15, 2021! John Cuddihy will be speaking about the new federal government program support for green/natural infrastructure at the first Virtual Grey To Green Conference.
Cuddihy’s vast experience with policy across a broad spectrum of environmental issues in both the public and private sectors will be an enticing addition to the agenda. A strong advocate for pragmatic, evidenced-based solutions, Cuddihy’s continued efforts at advocating for new opportunities within the federal government to support natural/green infrastructure have paid off.
In April, the Canadian Federal Budget, “A Recovery Plan for Jobs, Growth, and Resilience,” was released and focuses on investments to stimulate economic growth. For the first time, the budget has a focus on natural or green infrastructure. A dedicated Natural infrastructure Fund was created as the federal government recognizes the role green infrastructure plays in creating healthy, resilient cities.The Natural Infrastructure Fund will be $200 million over three years, starting in 2021-22. Other important program changes announced in the budget, to the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund have made it possible to invest in smaller green infrastructure projects to become eligible for funding.
This recognition on the part of the federal government without the advocacy efforts of a variety of organizations, charities, policymakers, and community members, like Green Roofs for Healthy Cities and the Green Infrastructure Ontario Coalition.
“We are very pleased that the federal government has recognized Natural/Green Infrastructure in its latest budget and created a funding program focused on green roofs, bioswales, urban forests and other forms of green infrastructure." said Steven W. Peck, Founder and President of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities and Founder of Green Infrastructure Ontario. "Many organizations have been advocating for the formal recognition of green infrastructure for many years and this is a big step forward. The federal government is to be congratulated for recognizing the many benefits of living green infrastructure technologies and investing in them in its latest budget."
More and more, we are seeing governments globally recognize the importance of green infrastructure. Green infrastructure has exceptional potential to tackle three major crises, the climate emergency, the biodiversity emergency, and the urgent need for greater social equity.
Learn more by Registering for Grey to Green: Designing For Tomorrow here: https://greytogreenconference.org/
From the Living Architecture Academy
