August 17, 2016

Municipal Think Tank: Ontario Growth Plan & Climate Change Action Plan

Context: The Province of Ontario recently released proposed amendments to the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe and related land use plans (i.e. Greentbelt Plan), as well as the Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP). Given that these plans chart a course towards 2041 in the case of the Growth Plan and 2050 in the case of the CCAP policy objectives, this emerging policy framework connecting land use decisions to climate action will have significant implications for municipal and other local government agencies over the long term.

Purpose of the Workshop: The Ontario Climate Consortium and the Clean Air Partnership hosted a workshop which convened over 90 participants at York University to discuss proposed amendments to the land use planning framework in relation to the Province’s climate change action agenda. It featured introductory presentations on recent OCC research on land use planning and climate action in the Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH), and on priority growth plan amendments from a climate perspective.

Outcome of the Workshop: Following from the short presentations mentioned above, seven facilitated breakout sessions were held which gathered sector specific comments on the Proposed Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe on the following topics:

  • Education and Outreach to Support Plan Implementation;
  • Regional Oversight – Performance Monitoring and Data Availability;
  • Integration of Land Use and Energy Planning;
  • Low Carbon Transportation Planning;
  • Integrated Watershed Management; and,
  • Integrated Planning and Infrastructure.

A proceedings report which summarizes the presentations and the discussions that took place during the breakout sessions is available below.

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