Like other communities in the Great Lakes region, Toronto is undergoing significant changes in its climate. The city is becoming hotter, weather is becoming more variable, extreme weather is more common, and insect pests are multiplying as a result of warmer winters. Because of the millions of tonnes of greenhouse gases already released to the atmosphere, these changes will continue for the next century or more, even if we are successful in dramatically reducing emissions in the near future.

Many municipalities in the Great Lakes and elsewhere in Canada have developed climate change mitigation strategies designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, most of these municipalities have not yet begun to develop plans to reduce the impacts of climate change that is already underway and is unavoidable. The City of Toronto is one of the first cities in Canada to develop a comprehensive climate change adaptation plan, as a result of a lengthy and thoughtful process.

This report describes the work done by the City of Toronto in 2007-2008 to develop its adaptation strategy. The Ontario Ministry of the Environment provided funding for Jennifer Penney, the Director of Research at the Clean Air Partnership to support the City’s Adaptation Steering Committee in the development of their strategy. This report will assist other Great Lakes communities which can benefit from this experience and will find it easier to develop their own adaptation strategies as a result of lessons learned from the Toronto experience.