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- Who We Are
Working together to create a healthier environment for all Albertans.
We use a unique model of collaboration to solve our province’s most pressing environmental challenges.
Our Purpose
Through shared values, coordinated action and relentless collaboration, Alberta Ecotrust unleashes a collective responsibility to secure a healthier society and natural environment.
That’s why we collaborate with a cross-section of engaged Albertans from industry, government, and the nonprofit and charitable sector, harnessing our province’s entrepreneurial spirit, and focusing it on the issues that matter most.
Our Story
Guided by a vision of healthy ecosystems for all Albertans, Alberta Ecotrust is a long-standing and critical source of funding, training, and skill building for Alberta’s environmental community.
In 1991 our founders knew we could make a difference by doing things differently.
By forming partnerships between the corporate and environmental nonprofit sectors, we could build trust and combine big-picture thinking with boots-on-the-ground effort.
We were the first-ever organization to provide funding solely to environmental groups in Alberta.
Since then, we've grown and shifted with the times. The modern world is complex and ever-changing.
Alberta Ecotrust has successfully navigated multiple systems, provided enduring leadership, and relentlessly pursued collaborative solutions. This works because we embrace the diverse perspectives, priorities, and goals of our community.
We now believe everyone has a role to play, including government, businesses, and philanthropic organizations.
Plus, through our Climate Innovation Fund, we can have an even bigger impact.
Looking ahead to our next 30 years, we need to meet the social, economic, and ecological challenges we face due to climate change. This includes loss of biodiversity, drought and food insecurity, water quality, and extreme weather impacts.
We will put our energy into initiating, supporting, and collaborating on scalable solutions that address multiple challenges at once.
In a world where environmental issues are many and complex, the cooperative effort of people with diverse views and backgrounds is vital to finding workable solutions.
Our Mission and Vision
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Mission
We partner across boundaries to mobilize and inspire those who champion and protect the environment
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Vision
Healthy ecosystems for all Albertans
Our Focus Areas
With every project and partnership we undertake, we focus on these three core focus areas.
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Nature-Based Solutions and Conservation
We value, develop, and fully integrate nature-based solutions to achieve environmental, economic, and social objectives. We also enable projects that protect nature by supporting Indigenous-led efforts and implementation of Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs).
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Climate Resilience and Emissions Reductions
Alberta hopes to achieve the vision of carbon neutrality and resilient communities by mid-century. Through our Climate Innovation Fund, we support projects and initiatives that have the potential to scale to achieve this vision and support the transition to a sustainable future.
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Circular Economy
Alberta has a circular economy that preserves the value of energy, labour, and materials. Alberta Ecotrust supports projects and initiatives that promote durability, reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling to keep products, components, and materials circulating in the economy.
Our People
Our Board
Our Climate Innovation Fund
Alberta Ecotrust is a founding member of the Low Carbon Cities Canada (LC3) network, implemented in partnership among seven local centres across Canada and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Funded by the Government of Canada, LC3 is part of a national investment in municipal climate action to accelerate urban climate solutions, and to meet Canada’s 2030 and 2050 carbon reduction targets.
As an LC3 centre, Alberta Ecotrust received a $43.4 million endowment to create the Climate Innovation Fund (CIF). CIF provides programming in Calgary and Edmonton, taking on a nimble, accelerator role, complementing and advancing the leadership work undertaken by the municipalities.
Our projects by the numbers
- 808Total projects
- $15MInvested in alberta
- 31Years of active collaboration
Our Focus Areas in Action
Every day we see our passion spreading across Alberta. Learn more about the projects we have supported.
Our Partners
Collaboration is central to the way we operate. We partner with organizations from every sector, including local and provincial governments, energy companies, environmental groups, banks, law firms, and more.
Our partners are active contributors to our work, regularly discussing and directing our work. They form our board of directors, sit on committees, and work together to review funding applications and allocate grants.
Through these responsibilities, our partnership network expands far beyond our own activities, creating a network through the province of connected collaboration.
Our Supporters
Thanks to our supporters whose contributions helps us to do our job.
Become a partner
Join the community of municipalities, industry, and nonprofits that are collaborating to protect our environment in a meaningful way.
Learn moreLand Acknowledgement
Alberta Ecotrust Foundation acknowledges that our work stretches across the traditional territories of Cree, Blackfoot, Métis, Nakota Sioux, Iroquois, Dene, and Ojibway/Saulteaux/Anishinaabe nations; lands that are now known as part of Treaties 6, 7, and 8 and homeland of the Métis. Our head office is located in the City of Calgary, which is also home to Métis Nation of Alberta, Region III.
Our commitment to a more equitable future
Alberta Ecotrust is excited to share our JUST Label from the International Living Future Institute. The program is a voluntary disclosure tool - like a nutrition label - for organizations like ourselves who want to demonstrate their commitment to social justice and employee engagement. As part of the JUST program, we measure and report on a range of organization and employee-related indicators.
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