Ontario Helping Municipalities Reduce Pollution

Province’s Carbon Market Supporting Community-Led Projects.

Ontario is supporting projects to reduce greenhouse gas pollution, save municipalities money on energy costs and fight climate change, through the Municipal GHG Challenge Fund. This initiative is part of Ontario’s Climate Change Action Plan and is funded by proceeds from the province’s carbon market.

Chris Ballard, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, was at St. Lawrence Market in Toronto to announce successful applicants of the fund from the Toronto area and to open the next round of funding for the program.

With support from the Municipal GHG Challenge Fund, St. Lawrence Market will install a renewable geo-exchange system for ground source heating and cooling as part of the redevelopment of St. Lawrence Market North. This new system will help to reduce the building’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Other examples of funded projects in the Toronto area include developing near-zero emissions heating networks for housing developments and buildings across the city, converting ambulances and fire trucks to low-carbon vehicles, introducing 30 TTC electric buses and upgrading waste management facilities to collect landfill gas and convert it into renewable natural gas.

Successful applicants from 14 other municipalities across the province, including projects from rural and northern communities, will be announced in the coming weeks.

Municipalities are important partners in the fight against climate change. Investing in community-led action on climate change is essential to achieving long-term and cost-effective greenhouse gas reductions while reducing energy costs and creating new jobs in communities across Ontario.

Ontario’s plan to support care, create opportunity and make life more affordable during this period of rapid economic change 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, and over 65, through the biggest expansion of medicare in a generation.

QUICK FACTS

• Ontario is investing close to $100 million of proceeds from its carbon market in the Municipal GHG Challenge Fund in 2017/18 and up to $35 million in 2018/19.
• 30 per cent of the projects that will receive funding are from small, rural or northern communities.
• The greenhouse gas reductions for all Toronto projects will be the equivalent to taking 5,500 cars off the road during their first year of operation.
• All municipalities are encouraged to submit new applications for funding for the next round of the Municipal GHG Challenge Fund by July 13, 2018.
• 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. The government will report on the plan’s implementation annually and review the plan at least every five years.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• Municipal GHG Challenge Fund
• Ontario’s Climate Change Action Plan
• Ontario’s First Progress Report on the Climate Change Action Plan
• Ontario’s Cap and Trade Program