Case study 1: Toronto

There are few cities that have set such ambitious climate change targets as Toronto; Canada’s most populous city has been a trailblazer of climate change action since the late 1980s (Gordon, 2015). Following a conference held in the city in 1988, officially titled Our Changing Atmosphere: Implications for Global Security, the Special Advisory Committee on the Environment (SACE) was created and a target of city emission reduction targets were implemented – one of the first of their kind in the world (Lambright et al., 1996).

In the 28 years since this target, Toronto has continued to set ambitious aims. 1991 saw the formation of the Toronto Atmospheric Fund (TAF) by the City of Toronto. In 2007, the Toronto Environment Office published its Climate Change, Clean Air and Sustainable Energy Action Plan: Moving from Framework to Action. The plan set out the challenge of an 80% reduction of 1990 emissions by 2050, and was coupled with a pledge of $1 billion investment between 2008 and 2013 to ensure its success (Gordon,2015). The result of these have been a 24% reduction in city emissions since 1990, contrasted with a 20% rise in Canada’s nationwide emissions.

What are some examples of initiatives have the city adopted?

Methane capture from waste

Much of the success has been due to the City of Toronto, through the TAF. For example, the fund identified the opportunity to utilise methane that was leaking from its primary landfill site, creating enough energy to power approximately 24,000 homes. This was made possible by a $34 million investment, which is expected to be recouped within 11 years.

Renewables

There has also been a commitment to the development of renewables. This has again been led by the City of Toronto itself, aiming for all City buildings to be utilising renewable power by 2020.

2004 saw the city have its first permanent wind turbine installed at Exhibition Place, helping to generate clean energy and remove harmful chemicals. In the same year, Exhibition Place also had the largest PV plant in Canada at the time installed on the roof – both projects were funded by the TAF.

The wind turbine at Exhibition Place
Source: The Star

Green roofs

Following the introduction of a 2013 by-law, all new buildings with gross floor areas of 2,000+ m² within the city must have a proportion of the roof space occupied by a green roof. This ranges from 20% for 2,000-4,999 m² to 60% for 20,000+ m² . The City also offers financial incentives to eligible buildings for green roof installation.

In addition to CO₂ removal, the roofs have the potential to lower the ambient temperature by more than 16^oC compared to standard asphalt surfaces (MacIvor et al., 2016). Over 250,000 m² of green roofs was created between 2010 and 2015.

Me looking out for Toronto green roofs whilst completing the Edgewalk on the CN Tower.

I think there are two clear drivers behind Toronto’s success: 

1. An almost universal adoption of values by the local government and population

2. Top-down investment from the Council. 

The city represents what is possible if the municipal government buys into – both conceptually and financially – the realism of climate change. The schemes mentioned above are just a taste of what Toronto is doing to mitigate its carbon footprint, and I think the city represents a fantastic example of what is possible with top-down green initiatives.