The head of the City of Toronto’s Fleet Services says he is confident the city will meet this year’s emission reduction goals as it explores new climate solutions, despite a report suggesting it’s too late.
The Toronto Climate Week (TOCW) kicked off on Wednesday at the University of Toronto’s Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus, uniting policymakers, entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, NPOs, artists, local leaders, and the public to speak about the present and future of climate solutions.
The event aims to place Canada and Toronto as hubs for economic and climate resilience, fostering an environment to lead discussions about climate, showcase the country’s environmental progress, and empower the community to do more.
Canadian Climate Institute (CCI) President Rick Smith spoke with Now Toronto about the country’s current climate state and possible solutions for the future, saying that events such as TOCW, are useful when fueling conversations about policymaking in a time when Canada faces significant challenges related to climate change.
“I think it’s an expression of hope. It’s an indicator that climate advocates and corporate leaders in this space are getting organized in Toronto,” he said.
“These gatherings are useful to try to bring people together, generate ideas, generate some new connections that lead to a kind of economic forward movement. So, I’m glad, as a Torontonian, that it’s come together.”
After a summer marked by wildfires, significant droughts and extraordinary temperatures, Smith says that Canada is now seeing the effects of climate change first-hand.
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In 2023, Canada registered its biggest number in wildfire destruction ever seen in history, according to the government’s website. In one year alone, the country registered 6,000 wildfires, which destroyed 15 million hectares of land, six times more than the regular average of 2.5 million hectares a year.
Meanwhile, in 2024, the number went down to 5.3 million hectares lost to wildfires, according to the CCI, still significantly above the historical average. However, as pointed out by Smith and a report by the Government of Canada, the number continued to rise, standing at around 8.8 million lost hectares by the time of publication.
On the other hand, he says the country is still lacking in action to deal with climate change effects.
“You would think, if our country is on fire, that it would drive increasing ambition in terms of the solutions to that problem. But that doesn’t seem to be the case as of yet,” he said.
“These impacts are not going to get less damaging. They’re not going to get less dramatic. And I’m hopeful that that realization will increasingly drive some greater ambition in terms of improved climate policy across the country, not just at a federal level, but provincially.”
Last month, the CCI published a study revealing that Canada has practically seen no progress in reducing emissions in 2024, predicting that the country won’t be able to meet its 2030 goal to reach 40 to 45 per cent less emissions than it had in 2005.
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While the results might seem discouraging, Smith tells Now Toronto that failing to reach this goal doesn’t mean that Canada should lose hope.
“Public policy is full of performance metrics that if governments don’t achieve them, they don’t discard the goal. They just kind of redouble their efforts to figure out how to get there,” he said.
“Our institute doesn’t think it’s physically possible to meet the country’s goal of 40 to 45 per cent emission reductions by 2030…but we could hit 25 per cent by 2030 and every megaton of greenhouse gas reduced means less wildfires, less flooding, less extreme climate impacts plaguing Canadian communities, so it’s worth it to keep trying.”
TORONTO SEEKING PROGRESS
City of Toronto Fleet Services Division’s General Manager Abi Thomas said events like the TOCW give the city an opportunity to take the lead on climate policies and inspire other smaller municipalities to follow suit.
“[The] City of Toronto is the fourth largest municipality in North America. And you know, that comes with such an opportunity, as well as a responsibility,” he told Now Toronto.
In 2021, Toronto adopted its TransformTO Net Zero Strategy, which includes a series of measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2040. The strategy also includes a series of gradual reduction targets, including cutting emissions by 45 per cent in 2025 and 65 per cent in 2030.
Although a report by the city, published in December of 2024, predicts that it will not be able to hit the 2025 target by the end of the year, Thomas says he believes the city can.
The manager explained that the city is currently leading a series of initiatives to reduce emissions, including adopting an ultracapacitor technology for garbage-collection vehicles and the hybrid and electric transportation technologies.
“The City of Toronto is really the front line service provider. We are out there fixing the potholes, we’re out there picking the garbage, we are going to houses and providing services. And so, we do things on the ground. So, when we put technology into implementation, or we change assets, it really has to continue to enable the Operations and Services,” Thomas said.
“We have seen reduced or reduced or no emissions from vehicles. We have seen noise from heavy-duty vehicles being reduced. And so, there is a real benefit to the operators as well as the residents in some of the technology at the end of the day.”
EXPERTS HOPE FOR ACTION
Although current climate change effects may have people feeling anxious about the future, both Smith and Thomas say there’s still hope for the environment.
Thomas says that while the city is working to quickly meet the 45-per cent reduction goal by December, it is now exploring new technologies that could help them achieve future climate goals, a task he believes will not be easy to complete, including the net zero.
Besides looking into new technologies, the city is also seeking collaboration and investment from the provincial and federal governments to advance climate initiatives.
“I’m very proud of our council and how they work with their provincial and federal government to really champion this stuff, because it gives us the path. We applied for grants through the National Research Council, and through the Green Municipal Fund. And that’s what I would say to all of the municipalities: you’re not on your own,” he said.
“I think we need to be bold. We need to be really focused on what we’re trying to do. And we’ve got to manage risk in a reasonable way, where we’ve got to pilot technology, and if it works, we’ve got to make investments behind it to make sure that it is getting us there.”
Meanwhile, Smith says he hopes that seeing more climate change effects will finally inspire policymakers to focus on the environment.
The institute’s president points out that advancing Canada’s climate policies could even help the country advance economic relationships with other countries.
“The prime minister talks a lot about the need to deepen and diversify Canada’s trading relationships with economies other than the United States. We agree. And the reality is that in every single case, China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, every European country, Mexico, these countries, are all accelerating their decarbonization and creating policy frameworks to do that,” he said.
“My hope with the federal government’s very simple. We hope that they actually put in place their very good election platform. That’s all they laid out during the election, a very good, very detailed series of ideas to align effective climate policy with the country’s economic needs. And we agree that’s important. So, it’s time.”
