CLIMATE CHANGE

Our Climate Change Action Plan

Ontario’s comprehensive Climate Change Action Plan is helping Ontarians make better, greener choices that will reduce our carbon footprint and give our province a sustainable future.

Green Targets

We have firm targets for reducing Ontario’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions: six per cent below 1990 levels by 2014, 15 per cent by 2020 and 80 per cent by 2050. We’ll be achieving these targets through:

• creating a culture of conservation
• a phase-out of coal-fired power plants and much more renewable energy
• rebates for energy audits
• provincial sales tax breaks for energy efficient products
• new programs and incentives for Ontario consumers, businesses, and municipalities to get green

No More Coal

Ontario is the only jurisdiction to regulate a phase-out of coal-fired electricity. This bold action represents one of the largest single GHG reduction measures in North America and will reduce our carbon footprint from electricity by 75 per cent.

Cap And Trade

Ontario has recently passed new legislation that will enable us to participate fully in the cap-and-trade system emerging in North America. It will enable Ontario to regulate the greenhouse gas emissions produced by industry. Ontario is working to develop a trading system that can be linked to other jurisdictions.

Climate Change Adaptation

Ontario’s Expert Panel on Climate Change Adaptation includes three Nobel Laureates recognized for their work on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. The Expert Panel was appointed to give advice on how to best plan and prepare for the impacts of climate change. Their report contains a number of recommendations aimed at building a climate-resilient Ontario. A key recommendation is the development of a climate change adaptation strategy and action plan.

MoveOntario 2020

We are investing $11.5 billion and launching 52 public transit projects in the Greater Toronto Area and Hamilton – the largest transit investment plan in Canadian history. 

Green Power

Ontario’s forward-looking Green Energy and Green Economy Act will:

• expand Ontario’s use of clean, renewable energy: wind, solar, hydro, biomass and biogas
• implement a 21st-century “smart” power grid to support the development of new renewable energy projects and prepare Ontario for new technologies such as electric cars.

A $150 million investment is helping Ontario homeowners fight climate change, conserve energy and adopt green technologies. We have set long-term targets to double the amount of electricity from renewable sources by 2025. We have gone from 10 to nearly 700 windmills, in place or planned.  A new standard offer program for clean energy helps small renewable energy producers sell their power to Ontario’s electricity grid.

Creating Green Jobs

Our Next Generation of Jobs Fund is a $1.15 billion program that will secure the next generation of high-paying jobs for Ontarians by supporting the use and sale of clean and green technologies and businesses right here in Ontario.

By investing in green energy and clean, renewable sources of power, we are fostering innovation, building a stronger, more sustainable, lower carbon economy and creating an estimated 50,000 direct and indirect jobs over three years.

Grow Green

Ontario’s Greenbelt protects 1.8 million acres of green space around our most populated areas. We are protecting the Boreal forest in the north, planting 50 million trees in southern Ontario by 2020 and promoting Ontario’s fresh, locally-grown foods.

Find out what we are doing to help you make a difference.  We are offering rewards and programs to make it easier for you to cut greenhouse gas emissions, help address climate change … and save money. Go to ontario.ca/additup to find out more.