Roadmap to Net-Zero

Our ChallengesFair, Clean Economy

#ClimateActionNow

The world we want to build aims for a healthy, prosperous, fair, affordable, resilient society, where we are working together on an important common purpose in the battle against climate change. No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.

Ontario can lead the way to a real green future.

A clean economy will keep our air clean and communities vibrant, while creating jobs in the fastest growing markets.

By investing wisely in greener choices for a healthier future, Ontario can become a leader in EV manufacturing and low pollution travel; healthy efficient homes; sustainable forestry and responsible mining; energy storage and networks.

To build a clean economy, Ontario will mobilize a diverse and inclusive workforce for the green transition. Ontario Greens will:

Improve financial support for the most vulnerable, create more jobs.
Help local businesses learn from green economy heroes to become financially and environmentally sustainable.

Key metrics for a clean economy will include:

The number of people with new jobs in skilled green trades.
The growth of low-carbon businesses.
The number of low-income households living in energy-efficient homes.

The Green Party’s key policies for achieving a thriving, clean economy, in addition to those set out in the Succeed Together section of our Top Priorities, will include:

Build a green workforce

In the next four years, give 60,000 young people the skills, experience and opportunities to do energy retrofits and to install renewable energy systems, with targeted recruitment of women, Indigenous people, and racialized communities.
- Provide one year of free tuition for new, green careers at Ontario community colleges.
- Guarantee one year of paid, on-the-job apprenticeships through a Climate Youth Corps and groups like Hammer Head.
Develop standards for new careers in green building, such as Retrofit Coordinator and Retrofit Installer.
Make training subsidies available for small businesses to upskill employees.

Support green businesses

Demand that the federal government prevent high carbon materials from being dumped into Canada without paying our carbon price, thus undercutting Ontario’s low carbon producers (“border carbon adjustment”).
Create tax incentives and remove regulatory obstacles for clean technologies, low emission vehicles and other sustainable practices.
Support proven programs where social enterprises help local businesses become more financially and environmentally sustainable.
Create a Green Bank to improve access to capital for:
- Cooperative, worker, social purpose and community models of low-carbon businesses.
- Low-carbon capital equipment upgrades for small and medium sized businesses.
Research and support environmentally sustainable business opportunities.

Strengthen green strings

Use public procurement to spur innovation by:
- Developing green criteria for infrastructure and government purchasing.
- Ensuring that public sector procurement promotes innovative and low carbon footprint techniques, materials and technology and supports local and sustainable companies and jobs.
Put “green strings” on public financial assistance to organizations by making government funding to businesses, institutions and municipal governments conditional on strong action on climate and biodiversity, wherever appropriate.
Put "green strings" on permits for environmentally significant activities.
Establish an authoritative source of locally relevant climate data.

Encourage sustainable finance

Embed climate-related risk into monitoring, regulation and supervision of Ontario financial institutions.
Require Ontario security regulators to implement the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).
Require public and private organizations (including financial institutions and pension funds) to:
- Annually disclose their climate-related pollution, financial risks and impact.
- Document how they will reduce their organizations’ direct and indirect climate pollution to net-zero by 2045, including five year targets, and their progress in meeting these targets.
Work with other Canadian governments to set green bond standards and taxonomies.
Require public sector investment funds to rapidly phase out investing in fossil fuels.
Identify a list of deep retrofit projects suitable for public-private co-investment.
Provide loan-loss reserves to grow Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE)/ low-interest loan programs for funding deep energy, clean energy retrofits by local homes and businesses.
Provide tax incentives for green venture capital investments.

Expand science and research

Expand science and research into sustainable business opportunities.
Publish the results of all publicly funded science on the climate crisis and related topics.

Hold polluters accountable

Clarify that the fiduciary duty of business and government leaders is to operate sustainably within planetary limits, and does not excuse climate or environmental damage in order to make financial profits.
Expand the personal liability of officers and directors for climate and environmental pollution created by their companies on their watch.
Ban advertising and sponsorships by fossil fuel companies that have misled the public and lobbied against reductions in climate pollution, just as we do for tobacco companies.

Sikh Family older man and woman and younger woman

Leave no one behind

Fairness, justice and equity will be even more important as the climate crisis worsens.

Worsening climate chaos increases inequality, disproportionately affecting racialized and low-income people. Where costs rise, the most vulnerable will need help with the transition.

This plan includes many policies to assist the most vulnerable, including:

Focusing at least 25% of the overall benefits of public investments to reduce climate pollution on disadvantaged communities. (See Succeeding Together.)
A climate bonus and higher minimum wage increase. (See Succeeding Together.)
Cleaner air for better health. (See Crushing Climate Pollution and Health.)
Free transit and better, cleaner transit. (See Clean, Safe Ways to Get Around.)
Increased access to safe active transportation and compact communities. (See Clean, Safe Ways to Get Around.)
Green workforce programs. (See Green Workforce.)
Affordable housing. (See GPO Housing Policy.)
Zero-carbon electricity that remote communities can own. (See Electricity.)
Access to low-cost financing to insulate and electrify their home. (See Succeeding Together.)
Conservation subsidies for retrofits that reduce energy use for those unduly affected by the cost of energy, especially rural, remote, low-income and Indigenous communities and those with resistance (baseboard) electric heating. (See Succeeding Together.)
Supports for growing healthy local food. (See Local and Sustainable Food.)

Ontario Greens will also support environmental, justice–focused community-based organizations with funding for capacity building.