The Shift: Climate Transitions program empowers Bow Valley residents and businesses to take climate action.
Our Shift: Climate Transitions program invites residents, visitors, and businesses to take local action to mitigate and adapt to climate change. We organize participatory public workshops and community-based projects and events on low carbon transportation, energy efficient buildings, renewable energy, and waste. This program aims to:
Develop, lead and implement projects that focus on energy solutions
Convene key Bow Valley sectors around climate action
Collaborate with key partners
Thanks to the Town of Canmore and Town of Banff, who are major partners in Shift.
2025 Building for Sustainability Symposium
Join us for the 3rd annual Building for Sustainability Symposium November 6 & 7, 2025 at the Malcolm Hotel in Canmore, Alberta.
This event helps position the Bow Valley as a leader in sustainable building by fostering a collaborative environment where innovative ideas and best practices are shared. Imagine transforming the region into a model for sustainable development, inspiring other communities to follow suit!
EV’s are for Everyone Cross-Canada Tour
We are proud to partner with national nonprofit Plug’n Drive, a trusted source for electric vehicle education and test drives, to bring the 2025 EV’s are for Everyone Cross-Canada Tour to Banff and Canmore! This event will include the Mobile Electric Vehicle Education Trailer, knowledgeable EV ambassadors, and a chance to test drive 5 different electric vehicles from leading manufacturers! Click below to learn more and book your test drive!
Green Buildings Open House
On May 31st, 2025, the Biosphere Institute hosted the third annual Green Buildings Open House Tour. The event featured buildings displaying leadership in sustainable design, construction, and practices, including renewable energy, water and energy efficiency, passive house and net-zero principles, and more!
Reducing Emissions from Buildings by supporting the building and development industry
The Biosphere Institute has undertaken essential research with building and real estate professionals to understand how we can collectively raise the bar with respect to high-performance building. We’re using what we learn to build, partner, and execute a customized education program for these Bow Valley and Albertan professionals, which will improve energy efficiency and dramatically reduce the carbon footprint of new and existing homes as sustainable building technologies are increasingly implemented.
FireSmart Bow Valley
Wildfire is a natural part of our landscape—but we can take simple, effective steps to reduce risk to our homes and communities. Learn how residents in the Bow Valley can prepare their properties, access free home assessments, and take part in local wildfire mitigation efforts through FireSmart.
Circular Economy
In our current system, we take materials from the Earth, make products from them, and eventually throw them away as waste – the process is linear.
In a circular economy, we stop waste being produced in the first place and nature is regenerated through processes like maintenance, reuse, refurbishment, remanufacture, recycling, and composting. The Biosphere Institute supports a circular economy in a variety of ways. Click the link below to learn more.
Event Waste reduction
For the past three years, the Biosphere Institute of the Bow Valley has been coordinating Canmore Folk Music Festival’s Environment (Green) Team. The Green team is a team of 60 passionate volunteers that are responsible for handling compost, “green” education, recycling and waste management throughout the weekend. This year past year, we achieved a 91% waste diversion rate!
Supported by a Carbonzero Community Microgrant (CCMG), we are expanding this framework to other events in the Bow Valley, including the FIS Alberta World Cup. Get involved by volunteering for the Green Team for an event!
Climate Champions
We have created an online training course, which educates learners on effective climate action and how to have productive conversations with others about climate change. Climate Champions will work towards to fostering a community of practice to create a network of climate leaders with agency to make a real difference.
Home Energy Evaluation Kit - HEET
You can borrow the Biosphere Institutes Home Energy Evaluation Toolkit to determine how energy is used in the home; then, refer to the HEET guide for tips and strategies to improve your home's energy efficiency.
It’s a Do-It-Yourself home energy audit!