Many opportunities to celebrate Earth Month
This April, we celebrate one of my favourite national months: Earth Month. Throughout April, our community has many opportunities to participate in events that help keep our ward clean and help the environment.
On April 22 – Earth Day – our office will be hosting a Compost Pick-Up Day at the West Rouge Community Centre. On the same day, Port Union Community Centre will be holding a community clean-up day. Port Union will also be taking orders for native plants for your yards as we enter the gardening season.
In the spirit of Earth Month, I’d like to share with you some of the wonderful initiatives the City of Toronto is taking to address the climate change crisis and keep our environment clean, sustainable and safe:
Climate Action Plan
The City of Toronto has adopted an ambitious strategy to reduce community-wide greenhouse gas emissions to Net Zero by 2040. It is one of only three big cities in North America with this target.
In 2022, the city’s TransformTO Net Zero Strategy won the Environment, Climate and Energy Award at the 9th annual American Planning Association Awards for Excellence in Sustainability. Our TransformTO Net Zero Strategy is driving new and faster action to bring down emissions in the short term, and is helping get us to where we need to be by 2040. Toronto has been and continues to be a trailblazer in climate action. The city’s emissions have decreased by 38 percent since 1990, meaning we are well on our way to achieving our next target of 45 percent by 2025.
BetterHomesTO
Homes and buildings generate over half of the greenhouse gas emissions in Toronto, and that is why the city is helping homes and buildings to decarbonize by 2040. The city also developed and implemented the Toronto Green Standard to outline sustainable design and performance requirements for new private and city-owned developments, and has committed to lead by example and implement programs to support Net Zero emissions targets in city-owned buildings.
The BetterHomesTO initiative has provided homeowners with information, tools and resources to help them learn about and take on home energy retrofits. The city also offers rebates and incentives to help ease the financial burden of these changes. To learn more about how you can green your home and contribute to climate action, please visit: www.betterhomesTO.ca
Carbon Budget
On April 26, the city’s Infrastructure and Environment Committee will provide an update on the TransformTO Net Zero Strategy, and a report for the first time on the Carbon Budget, a key part of our carbon accountability approach. The Carbon Budget is a system to provide comprehensive information on both the effectiveness and cost of city initiatives that aim to reduce emissions across Toronto.
As we continue to drive towards our ambitious 2040 GHG emissions reduction targets, the Carbon Budget helps inform better decision-making and enhances our accountability on climate action.
Women4ClimateTO Mentorship
In March, Toronto announced the third annual cohort of Women4ClimateTO. This mentorship program provides female climate leaders with mentorship, training and networking opportunities to help advance their climate-related projects, businesses or products to the next level.
Toronto is one of three Canadian cities, and 21 cities globally, participating in C40 Cities’ Women4Climate Mentorship Programme, which has reached every continent and supported more than 400 women to accelerate climate projects in their communities.
Following the program, the mentees will present their projects at a pitch competition that will see the top three initiatives receive a cash award and additional support to advance their work. It is inspiring to see so many young women looking to make an impact on their community and the world. I sincerely look forward to seeing the pitches presented in the coming months.
1 Year Anniversary of War in Ukraine
In late February, Toronto commemorated the one-year anniversary of Russia’s unjust invasion of Ukraine. Following a march, I joined Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier Doug Ford on stage to share words of solidarity for the people of Ukraine. It was a powerful and moving day that I was humbled to be a part of. Since the beginning of the invasion, roughly 143,000 Ukrainians have arrived in Canada with 52 percent of those arrivals landing in Toronto. As a city, we are providing support to resettle them at locations across the GTA.
We continue to stand in support of Ukraine and denounce Russia for its unconscionable actions. The City of Toronto has been flying the Ukrainian flag every day since the beginning of the war. Furthermore, the city also installed “Free Ukraine” signs around the Russian Consulate in another sign of support for the Ukrainian people.