Environment Hamilton

After almost two hours of debate, a majority of Council voted down a proposal to cut the climate change reserve from the 2026 budget, along with a variety of other investments in things like cybersecurity.

Three of the six Councillors (Spadafora, Francis, and Jackson) voted to defund the climate change reserve in 2025. Ward 7 Councillor Esther Pauls who voted to defund the reserve in 2025 was not in attendance.

Spadafora told Council the specific cuts proposed in his motion were provided by staff - the identified cuts were described by staff to present the "least risk" and fit within the budget savings the Councillor requested, but did not recommend any of the cuts still.

Are City Councillors planning to defund climate action?

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Correction on slide 5: The average savings from eliminating the climate change reserve would be ~$10 per household next year.