University of Waterloo receiving $15.8M for six environmental research projects

The University of Waterloo will receive $15.8 million for six of its research projects to identify solutions to environmental challenges. 

Provided by the Government of Canada's Environmental Damages Fund, administered by Environment and Climate Change Canada, and funded through the Climate Action and Awareness Fund (CAAF), the research supports building sustainable net-zero emissions in Canada by 2050.

“Scientific research underpins everything we do to fight climate change. This funding provides critical support, allowing government and academia to collaborate to explore practical and achievable climate change solutions. By leveraging our unique expertise, we can foster collaboration across disciplines, sectors, communities, and research bodies,” said the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

The research will impact and extend existing collaborations among stakeholders, including municipal and community organizations, academic and federal science partners, researchers, and trainees, to support climate change innovation and knowledge transfer.

One of the research projects, Can-Peat: Canada's peatlands as nature-based solutions to climate change, coauthored by UW professor Maria Strack has provided the most comprehensive assessment of the world's peatlands to date and identified actions governments should take to improve their protection, restoration, and sustainable management.

The report, Global Peatlands Assessment – The State of the World's Peatlands, was released by the United Nations Environment Programme's Global Peatlands Initiative at last week's United Nations Climate Change Conference. The report comprises contributions from hundreds of experts around the world, including Canada Research Chair in Ecosystems and Climate, Strack, who is a coordinating lead author of the report's regional assessment for North America.

“We're incredibly fortunate in North America that 98 percent of our peatlands remain intact,” Strack said. “Protecting this vast carbon stock is critical in climate action. However, in collaboration with Indigenous communities and governments, further policy development and implementation is needed to advance peatland conservation and wise use and ensure that the benefits arising from peatland services are shared equitably.”

According to the assessment, healthy peatlands are being lost and degraded at a rate that is ten times faster than their rate of formation over the last 10,000 years. Worldwide, around 12 percent of current peatlands are contaminated to the extent that peat is no longer formed, and the accumulated peat carbon stock is being lost.

Based on the report, if implemented with urgency, peatlands' protection, restoration, and sustainable management offer a massive win for people, climate, and nature. Conservation and restoration of tropical peatlands alone can reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 800 Mt CO2e per year, close to two percent of current annual global emissions, at an estimated investment of US$40 billion.

“It's critical for us to be working towards net zero,” said Dr. Charmaine Dean, vice president, Research and International at the University of Waterloo. “Using established and emerging strengths in fundamental and applied research, Waterloo is pushing boundaries to accelerate the transition to a climate-resilient, low-carbon sustainable society, and advancing the sustainable use and management of space, land, water, and energy on a global scale.”

Nationally, the CAAF funding was part of Minister Guilbeault's $58 million announcement for research projects that will advance science and technology to combat climate change. According to their press release, the recent launch of the Sustainable Futures initiative aims to make the University of Waterloo a global leader in sustainability research, education, and innovation to benefit the environment, economy, and society.