Clean Air Partnership
Fostering Sustainable Cities
Climate change and equity haven’t traditionally been considered during growth management and land use decisions. Yet, these planning decisions have significant impacts on our climate…
For the past year, The Centre for Active Transportation (TCAT) has been working with Green Communities Canada (GCC) to spread awareness of the findings of…
Over the past decade, Complete Streets and Vision Zero policy adoption has grown substantially in municipalities across Ontario. Despite this, the installation of safe street…
This spring, TCAT partnered with Urban Minds on a project to understand how students and faculty travel to and from Progress Campus, the flagship campus…
More than 650 Canadian municipalities have declared a climate emergency, and many have set a goal to reach net zero by 2050. Since buildings are…
In the face of the global climate crisis, it is becoming increasingly evident that collective action is needed to address the challenges we face. While…
What do we do about a problem like our electricity system? Normally, when I hear the words, we need to talk, I am usually the…
Last month, The Centre for Active Transportation (TCAT) convened 10 bike hubs across Ontario at the Share the Road conference in Hamilton. The goal of…
Clean Air Partnership will host its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Tuesday, June 20th, 2023, at 5:30 PM Eastern Time. The meeting will be held…
Due to decades of sprawl-oriented, low-density, single-use zoning policies, cities in North America have become places where services and amenities are located far away from…
2022 was, unfortunately, another record year for global carbon emissions. CO2 reductions observed at the start of the pandemic were rapidly eroded, with emissions exceeding…
I was fortunate enough to meet a colleague recently who works on implementing Vision Zero for a major Canadian city. During our conversation, I mentioned the project TCAT has…
Last Thursday, I attended a talk on climate optimism which featured discussions on Chris Turner’s new book “How To Be A Climate Optimist: Blueprints For…
Over 500 local governments in Canada have declared climate emergencies and are looking at switching to electric fleet vehicles (EVs) to reduce their transportation emissions.…
Municipalities are advancing ambitious Climate Action Plans to advance science-based greenhouse gas reduction targets and identifying actions to reduce climate impacts on the community. As…
When you hear the term marketing, you might think of a creative tv commercial, an online ad you saw or even the strategy behind the…
Through this blog, Jennie reflects on the need to break silos and build rich partnerships with artists, affordable housing advocates and others to advance Active Transportation.
I have been working in the climate field for over 25 years, and it is only in recent years that I have learned more about…
Earth’s carbon cycle describes the way the element carbon moves between the Earth’s biosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and geosphere.
There is a phenomenon called the Overview Effect that describes the change in perspective astronauts feel when they are out in space and looking back…
Heat events can have a major impact on health in Canada and around the world. For example, in 2003 Europe experienced unseasonably hot weather which…
TCAT, like many active transportation and road safety organizations, has long been a proponent of Complete Streets, an approach to road design that seeks to…
Nature-based solutions (NBS) are multi-functional, economical and provide a variety of benefits for local government and communities, such as improved health and well-being, reduced pollution and revitalized urban spaces.
North American cities have undergone dramatic changes over the last century. Locations that were once inconvenient have become accessible through extensive road networks leading to…
Clean Air Partnership will be hosting its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Wednesday, June 15th, 2022, at 5:30 PM Eastern Time. The meeting will be…
Active transportation (AT) researchers, advocates, and practitioners are data-hungry people. We continuously seek out slightly newer best practices and slightly more robust case studies. This…
For several years CAP has facilitated the Municipal Corporate Energy Managers Community of Practice, where designs and plans have been advanced. Scaling up climate action…
Climate change is the most critical challenge of our time. Around the world, people are accustomed to thinking about climate challenges as future threats leading…
A few weeks ago, I was sitting in a virtual seminar mostly comprised of other BIPOC attendees when a young woman shyly said, “Some of…
When we think of activities that contribute to climate change, we often think of industrial-scale activities such as manufacturing. Rarely do we associate routine activities…
While we rightly expect transparency from labels on our food, appliances and vehicle purchases, our homes, the single largest purchase most Canadians will ever make,…
“Roadway design/maintenance has never been objective. Design and engineering are more effective than policing.” – Dr. Destiny Thomas Toronto City Council recently approved a plan…
We are looking for a freelance Report Designer to join our team. They will be responsible for designing Clean Air Partnership reports on an ad-hoc…
Over 500 Canadian municipalities have now declared climate emergencies. These Declarations often include direction for staff to apply a climate lens (or similar measure) to…
2021 was a year like no other. Despite the pandemic bringing sustained challenges, Clean Air Partnership continued to engage municipalities and stakeholders and made progress…
Electric vehicle (EVs) adoption is growing rapidly. Bloomberg New Energy Finance forecasts that within five years, the cost to produce EVs will be equivalent to…
The Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) was created in 2015 by the Financial Stability Board of the G20 group of nations. Designed primarily to…
Markham Cycles is a community program with the goal of increasing cycling in Markham by removing barriers and building a cycling community. Launched in July…
In 2021, North America witnessed severe heatwaves and searing wildfires in British Columbia, California, and other parts of the west. Lytton, BC recorded a Canadian…
Think of the saying, when it rains, it pours and then add snowmelt, impervious urban areas that don’t absorb precipitation and what do you get?…
Cycling is a mode of transportation that is not only good for your waistline and health but also for the environment. Recognizing the significant role…
Rapid urbanization and unsustainable development have catastrophic consequences affecting the health of the population. Cities are by far the largest contributors to GHG emissions, consuming…
The Climate Action Support Centre (CASC) project was implemented to address staff and budgetary constraints faced by municipalities in implementing climate action. These constraints posed…
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…
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…
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…
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…
One of the challenges of weaning our society off the use of fossil fuels to heat our buildings is determining what this increased reliance on…
To achieve our climate targets, we must reduce the use of fossil fuels to heat our homes. Heat pumps offer an efficient and cost-effective way…
During May we will be sharing a few blogs on the role that heat pumps and geothermal can play in helping to reduce greenhouse emissions…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
Neighbourhoods in Markham with more low-income residents have higher rates of pedestrian and cyclist collisions, finds a new research report by The Centre for Active Transportation (TCAT)…
In April 2020, the Active Neighbourhoods Canada [ANC] network celebrated ten years of co-designing active communities across Canada. The Centre for Active Transportation (TCAT) at…
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…
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…
“I haven’t been on a bike in years, and this will help so much!” These were the words of Jessica, an addiction services worker, who recently…
Cycling offers communities a wide range of potential benefits, including improved health, friendlier streets, reduced traffic congestion, reductions in GHG emissions, and improvements in air…
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…
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.…
On January 9th, the City of Toronto’s Infrastructure and Environment Committee will decide whether or not to adopt an Electric Vehicle (EV) Strategy. This strategy…
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…