The Corporate Net-Zero Strategy 2025–2050 provides a long-term framework for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from municipal operations and transitioning City-owned assets to low-carbon alternatives. Presented to General Committee on April 2, 2025, the strategy supports climate action objectives by integrating net-zero considerations into capital planning, infrastructure renewal, and operational decision-making.
The strategy addresses emissions generated from municipal facilities, fleet and transit vehicles, wastewater operations, and landfill-related activities. It follows recognized municipal GHG accounting standards and uses 2022 as a baseline year from which to measure progress annually going forward. The strategy is broken down into sections:
- Executive Summary
- Part 1: Background & Rationale
- Part 2: Strategies by Group
- Part 3: Corporate-Wide Strategies & Implementation
The strategy was developed internally with support from engineering feasibility studies, renewable energy assessments, and fleet electrification analyses. Development included consultation with multiple operational departments and resulted in significant cost avoidance through in-house work and external grant funding support.
Key Implementation Approaches
The plan outlines four key implementation approaches:
- Optimizing existing systems for energy efficiency
- Switching from fossil fuels to low-carbon energy sources
- Upgrading to more efficient equipment
- Expanding renewable energy infrastructure, including solar photovoltaic systems.
The strategy applies an asset management approach that replaces energy-consuming assets with lower-carbon alternatives as they reach the end of their lifecycle and also identifies opportunities for long-term operational savings through reduced energy use and improved efficiency.
Key Actions
Key actions include:
- Evaluating low-carbon alternatives through the capital planning process
- Designing new municipal facilities to meet net-zero energy standards where financially feasible
- Transitioning municipal vehicles to electric alternatives where practical
- Integrating net-zero objectives into asset management planning
- Providing annual progress reports to General Committee