Established by the Toronto Atmospheric Fund as part of its goal of helping Toronto become one of the world’s most sustainable cities and activated at the Smog Summit in 2000, the Clean Air Partnership facilitates partnerships that empower individuals to reduce local greenhouse gas and smog precursor emissions. The focus of CAP is to enhance initiatives to reduce energy use and clean the air at the local level. CAP is an organization that seeks to fill a gap - the need for broader, more effective public-private partnerships and local leadership on clean air and climate change.

 

During its start-up phase, CAP received a commitment for core operating support from the Toronto Atmospheric Fund (TAF). Many of CAP’s projects were initially incubated by TAF – namely Cool Schools, Cool Toronto, the Smog Summit, and the Clean Air Consumer Guide. CAP has since increased the impact of these projects, while developing a number of new initiatives that engage a diversity of partners, such as the GTA Clean Air Council and Clean Air Online. 

 

At its inception, in order to deliver its programs, the Clean Air Partnership has sought a special group of “Founding Sponsors”, invited to provide multi-year financial contributions, as well as expertise and employee resources. Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc. became CAP’s first Founding Sponsor, and has become the primary industry partner of the annual Smog Summit. Since then, CAP has also secured additional project funding from numerous private and public funding sources, and has built relationships with local utilities, schools, businesses, municipal, provincial and federal governments, U.S. and international agencies and community groups.   

CAP’s relationship to the City of Toronto and to the Toronto Atmospheric Fund

The City of Toronto has a long history of pursuing environmental objectives. Improving air quality and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions continue to be important City objectives. Toronto was one of the first cities in the world to make a formal commitment to address local GHG emissions when, in 1990, Toronto City Council passed a resolution to reduce carbon emissions by 20%. 

In 1991, Toronto City Council approved the establishment of the Toronto Atmospheric Fund (TAF).   At the request of the City, the provincial government enacted the Toronto Atmospheric Fund Act in 1992. The Act established the Toronto Atmospheric Fund (TAF), an agency of the City of Toronto and the Toronto Atmospheric Fund Foundation (now CAP) as statutory corporations. The TAF Foundation was renamed the Clean Air Partnership (CAP) and was registered under the Income Tax Act effective 1996. 

As a charitable organization, CAP operates at arms-length from the City and TAF, and uses program dollars secured from sponsorships, contracts and donations to implement its programs. Some notable exceptions are the annual Clean Air and Climate Change Summit and GTA Clean Air Council: TAF provides CAP with the City of Toronto's annual financial contribution to these programs.