Alan DeSousa
Back in 2003, long before most Canadian cities had a climate file, Alan was already writing Montreal’s playbook. As the city’s Executive Committee member for water, mobility and infrastructure, he has authored more than two decades of firsts: an original water strategy, a pesticides bylaw, natural spaces protection, and a green building policy requiring every new municipal building to hit LEED Gold or better. That policy became a training ground. By piloting sustainable construction on city buildings, Alan let architects and contractors learn green building practices on the public’s dime. That expertise later transferred to private developers, who now build net-zero projects on their own. His current focus is climate adaptation: a watershed-based stormwater strategy, backed by a $15-billion capital budget, that gives excess rain somewhere natural to go before it floods a pipe. One early example, a restored creekbed in Marcel-Laurent Park, diverts 13,000 cubic metres of stormwater, simply giving the water back its old address.
