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Without fanfare, Ontario’s government released a three-page updated climate policy document last month illustrating how the province intends to meet its 2030 target of 30% emissions reduction below 2005 levels. 

The document, entitled “Ontario Emissions Scenario as of March 25, 2022”, is bare bones compared to the Ford government’s polished 2018 Made-In-Ontario Environment Plan, which set out the then-new administration’s plan to hit its emissions reduction target even as it noisily scrapped the previous government’s provincial cap and trade program. 

The Ford government’s revised policy dispenses with the 2018 plan’s proposed Ontario Carbon Trust, which never got off the ground, as well as expected emissions reduction from increased electric vehicle adoption. 

The new plan is to “coast[]”, in the words of Greenpeace Canada, largely on initiatives either begun by the previous provincial Liberal government (i.e., coal-fired power generation phase-out) or mandated by the current federal Liberal government (i.e., carbon pricing). 

Ford government contributions largely consist of plans to mandate higher “renewable” gasoline content (namely in the form of 15% minimum ethanol content) and convert several coal-fired steel plant blast furnaces to electric systems that will produce “green steel”. 

With Ontario’s provincial election less than two months away, the document serves as the closest thing to an official 2022 climate plan by the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. 

You can find the Liberal, NDP, and Green Party climate plans below:

• The Ontario Liberal Plan to Protect the Environment (Liberal Party)

• Green New Democratic Deal (NDP)

• Roadmap to Net Zero (Green Party)

Green Economy Law Professional Corporation recently signed on to the Ontario Climate Emergency Campaign’s Climate Action Plan, calling for the next government of Ontario to adopt “binding climate targets based on science...to limit planetary warming to 1.5C." Other businesses and organizations can sign on here.

Please contact our firm at 647-725-4308 or info@greeneconomylaw.com for legal assistance in connection with climate and environmental policy guidance and/or regulatory compliance.