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Albertans were made aware of public consultations through advertisements that ran in the Calgary Herald, Calgary Sun, Edmonton Journal and Edmonton Sun on Monday, Aug. 31.

More than 25,000 responses were collected through the climate change online survey, which was open from Aug. 14 to Sept. 18, 2015, while almost 1,000 people attended the climate change advisory panel’s two public open houses in Edmonton and Calgary.

The panel held 10 technical sessions with approximately 350 stakeholders, including representatives from the private sector, think-tanks, environmental organizations, academia and municipal governments.

Sessions provided an opportunity to discuss areas such as the energy efficiency of buildings and houses; agriculture and forestry; transportation and the role of municipalities; electricity; oil and gas; smaller industrial emitters; and economy-wide approaches for greenhouse gas reductions.

The panel held meetings with aboriginal peoples in Calgary, Edmonton and Fort McMurray. Participants discussed outcomes, priorities and community interests related to climate change and aboriginal peoples’ perspectives.

The panel received 535 submissions from a varied group of interested stakeholders, including members of the general public, industry, non-governmental organizations and academic experts. Almost 60 per cent of submissions came from individuals.

Roughly 20 per cent were submitted by companies from across a number of industries. Non-governmental organizations submitted roughly 18 per cent of all submissions. The remainder were submitted by academic institutions, municipalities, government agencies and other organizations.