GTHA greenhouse gas emissions update: improving sustainability

NRU
July 25, 2018
Celina Gallardo

While Peel Region produced the second highest amount of emissions in the GTHA in 2017 according to an upcoming report, it is on track to meeting its 2050 reduction target.
The Atmospheric Fund’s first inventory of greenhouse gas emissions produced by GTHA municipalities in 2017 will be released shortly. The inventory quantifies the emissions by their source for the four GTA regions as well as the cities of Hamilton and Toronto. In 2017, The Atmospheric Fund expanded its reach from Toronto to cover the municipalities in the GTHA.

According to the inventory, Toronto contributed 31 per cent, and Peel Region contributed to 23 per cent of the GTHA’s emissions, while Hamilton contributed 17 per cent and York Region 14 per cent. Durham Region and Halton Region contributed 9 and 6 per cent, respectively.

Besides Hamilton, where the bulk of its emissions come from industrial sources, most of the GTHA’s emissions come from transportation and buildings.

One of the ways Peel is trying to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions is through energy management in buildings, Peel energy advisor Alex Bogun told NRU. This not only helps the region reduce its emissions, it also comes with financial benefits.

“The less energy we consume in order to reduce our GHG footprint, the less we pay for energy,” Bogun said. He added that the region anticipates reaching its long-term target of being 80 per cent below 1990 emission levels by 2050.

Last year, Peel also launched the Peel Goods Movement Task Force, a partnership with municipalities in the region and private organizations. It seeks to make transporting goods across the region more efficient and sustainable.

“We’re doing that because the region has an airshed of all the traffic and the major highway arteries that go through our region,” said Peel climate change and energy management director Christine Tu.

Currently, The Atmospheric Fund is working to establish the Low Carbon Cities Canada (LC3). LC3 is a carbon emission reduction initiative that will connect six major cities across Canada, including the GTHA.

The Atmospheric Fund CEO Julia Langer said that LC3 will help significantly in improving sustainability in the GTHA.

“The real advantage for the GTHA would be to be able to work collaboratively with organizations, smart people, pilots and demonstrations that are going on in other cities so that we don’t have to reinvent wheels,” Langer said.