Climate Change Action Plan Helping Families and Businesses Save Money While Lowering Emissions

Ontario Releases First Climate Change Action Plan Progress Report

Premier Kathleen Wynne, along with Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Chris Ballard, today shared the first progress report on Ontario’s Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP). The action plan is a five-year strategy that is making life more affordable for people across Ontario, giving businesses more choice in reducing pollution and making Ontario a leader in the global fight against climate change.

The Premier visited the Fazio family in Toronto to hear about how they are lowering their energy bills and making their home more energy efficient.

Thanks to support from CCAP’s Green Ontario Fund (GreenON), families across Ontario are now saving money on energy costs while also helping to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. GreenON is making life more affordable for homeowners and their families by providing rebates when they upgrade their homes with:

Up to $7,200 in savings on new insulation
Up to $5,000 in savings on replacement windows
Up to $5,800 in savings on some air source heat pumps
Up to $20,000 in savings on installation of some certified ground source heat pumps.

Ontario’s CCAP is also helping researchers, entrepreneurs and companies fuel innovations that will reduce greenhouse gas pollution through the Low Carbon Innovation Fund.

The action plan is funded through proceeds from Ontario’s cap on the pollution businesses can emit and carbon market. The approximately $2.3 billion generated through five auctions has already enabled significant investments in homes, hospitals, schools, colleges and universities, and municipal buildings across the province, while helping to reduce greenhouse gas pollution.

CCAP has helped industry and manufacturers transform operations, move off imported fossil fuels and peak-period electricity, and helped create more jobs in clean tech and skilled trades.

Lowering greenhouse gas pollution and reinvesting in communities is part of Ontario’s plan to create fairness and opportunity during this period of rapid economic change. The plan includes a higher minimum wage and better working conditions, free tuition for hundreds of thousands of students, easier access to affordable child care, and free prescription drugs for everyone under 25 through the biggest expansion of medicare in a generation.

QUICK FACTS

The Climate Change Action Plan and carbon market form the backbone of Ontario’s strategy to cut greenhouse gas pollution to 15 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020, 37 per cent by 2030 and 80 per cent by 2050.
As of January 1, 2018, Ontario became part of the largest carbon market in North America — a linked marketplace with Québec and California that provides more choice for companies seeking to reduce emissions, at a lower cost.
To date, Ontario’s carbon market has generated approximately $2.3 billion. The government is investing every penny into projects that prevent, reduce or support the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
A comprehensive Greenhouse Gas Reduction Account Annual Report will be released in 2018, and will include a financial report for allocation and spending of carbon market proceeds.
Ontario has invested $377 million in proceeds from its carbon market to establish the Green Ontario Fund.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

QUOTES

“No matter where we live, we have all witnessed the impact of climate change on our environment, our cities and our day-to-day lives. We have a responsibility to tackle the immediate threat. We also have an opportunity to lead. All the proceeds from Ontario’s carbon market — every dollar — is being cycled into programs and initiatives that help families and businesses lower their energy bills and fight climate change. Our Climate Change Action Plan is actively building a cleaner, low-carbon Ontario, while also helping families and businesses save money.”
— Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario

“There isn’t a single person in Ontario, our country or the world who isn’t affected by climate change. That’s why Ontario’s Climate Change Action Plan focuses on transforming how all of us live, move and work — and we are making major progress. We are capping the greenhouse gas pollution businesses can emit and investing the proceeds from our carbon market into projects that reduce harmful emissions and make life better for people across Ontario.”
— Chris Ballard, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change