Green Energy

If you walk along a busy road, you are likely to inhale vehicle exhaust. Surprisingly, drivers and passengers in passing cars are breathing even more polluted air. Toxic air pollutants like carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides don’t simply float outside in the atmosphere; they can be found in high concentrations inside cars, posing a serious… Read More

Why do energy retrofits matter and what are Canadian cities doing to advance them? The City of Vancouver has a target to reduce 50% of GHG emissions from existing buildings by 2030 and 100% by 2050. This goal is in line with the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) findings to limit global… Read More

Buildings account for almost 70 per cent of New York City’s Green House Gas (GHG) emissions. Advancing energy efficiency retrofits within our existing building stock is critical to reducing the GHGs and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. In addition to GHG reductions, energy efficiency retrofits offer many other benefits such as increased occupant comfort and… Read More

Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events and poses major threats to human health, biodiversity, and economic development. In the past seven decades, the average temperature in Canada has risen by nearly 1.7 degrees Celsius, with temperature increases of 2.3 degrees Celsius observed in Canada’s northern areas. The government of… Read More

In Ontario, municipal governments are responsible for providing most services within the municipal boundary including, but not limited to, water and sewage, electric utilities, road maintenance, snow removal, childcare, long term care, garbage collection and recycling. By law in Ontario, municipalities must publish and implement corporate Conservation and Demand Management (CDM) plans that summarize municipal… Read More

After decades of automobile-centric planning, cities around the world have begun to reimagine and redesign their streets to be safer and more inviting for everyone, not just thoroughfares for cars. In articulating this more human-centric vision for cities, several different approaches have emerged that coalesce around similar goals: streets that are safer, more inviting, more… Read More

Advancing the energy efficiency of existing buildings is a critical part of any community’s climate action plan and social housing retrofits presents an ideal opportunity to accelerate that effort. City Housing Hamilton is the social housing agency for the City of Hamilton, and they have adopted a Passive House standard to help provide their residents with high quality housing while also improving their financial, environmental and… Read More

In a previous blog post we discussed some of the challenges and opportunities of fleet electrification. Together with fleet managers from over 30 municipalities, we identified two priority recommendations: the development of electric vehicle business cases and electric vehicle employee policies. Acting on these recommendations, as part of our Federation of Canadian Municipalities funded Climate Action Support Centre project,… Read More

How do you increase cycling in places where very few people bike? Since 2014, The Centre for Active Transportation, a project of  Clean Air Partnership, has been removing barriers and sparking cycling adoption in suburban communities through a community bike hubs approach. Despite COVID, their current project in Markham reached nearly 2,000 people this summer… Read More

At Clean Air Partnership we have created a climate lens for use in municipal decision making. The climate lens asks, ‘how will a municipal decision affect climate (through creation of greenhouse gas emissions) and, ‘how could it be affected by climate (ex. extreme weather, flooding risk)?’ In building our understanding of how to respond to… Read More

Transportation is a significant source of GHG emissions in most municipalities. Therefore, a transition towards a low carbon fleet is needed. Clean Air Partnership works collectively with fleet managers across more than 30 municipalities in Ontario. Here are some of the challenges and opportunities for fleet electrification. Electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure Significant resources are… Read More

Housing development in Ontario seems to be proceeding frantically. In Toronto, there are no shortage of towering condo developments appearing as if by magic. Across Southern Ontario, developments of single-family homes have created sprawling communities almost overnight. Population projections for the province show an estimated 193,000 more people per year, and in 2018, more than… Read More

There are 444 municipalities in Ontario. Approximately 90% of these communities are populations of less than 25,000. Tacking climate change poses specific challenges for communities of this size. Smaller municipalities have fewer staff generally, never mind staff dedicated to climate and energy. They have less discretionary funds available due to a smaller residential and commercial… Read More

The Clean Air Council (CAC) is a project of the Clean Air Partnership (CAP). The CAC is a network of 30 municipalities and health units who have been working collaboratively for 20 years on the development and implementation of clean air, climate change, sustainability, and resilience actions. Each year we provide more than 20 in-person… Read More

It is frequently said that what gets measured gets managed, but we also often hear the saying that what is truly important cannot be measured. So which is true? Well, both – life is full of contradictions. Deal with it! Many jurisdictions, both nationally and sub-nationally, have been advancing efforts to increase energy reporting requirements.… Read More

When Clean Air Partnership was established 20 years ago, air pollution was a public health crisis that rightly attracted considerable media and political attention. Smog days were the norm, with 53 days recorded in 2005 alone. In 2005, the Ontario Medical Association released ‘The Illness Costs of Air Pollution’ which showed that 5,800 Ontarians suffered… Read More