{"id":25780,"date":"2019-10-03T11:47:55","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T15:47:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/?p=25780"},"modified":"2019-11-06T03:27:01","modified_gmt":"2019-11-06T08:27:01","slug":"toronto-declared-a-climate-emergency-now-what","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/story\/25780\/toronto-declared-a-climate-emergency-now-what\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto declared a Climate Emergency. Now what?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Watching Toronto City Council debate its climate emergency declaration, it was clear that even the most battle-scarred of politicos had been moved (dare I say scared?) by the tens of thousands of youth-led climate strikers who\u2019d marched past City Hall the previous Friday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/story\/7986\/oil-companies-just-gave-toronto-6ix-reasons-to-sue-heres-why\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-25782 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2019\/10\/d71a203f-toronto-climate-emergency-declaration-300x284.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"298\" height=\"282\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2019\/10\/d71a203f-toronto-climate-emergency-declaration-300x284.png 300w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2019\/10\/d71a203f-toronto-climate-emergency-declaration-359x340.png 359w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2019\/10\/d71a203f-toronto-climate-emergency-declaration.png 610w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 298px) 100vw, 298px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/app.toronto.ca\/tmmis\/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2019.MM10.3\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">motion<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 co-sponsored by Mayor John Tory and Councillor Mike Layton \u2013 passed unanimously. Greenpeace supported it because it\u2019s more than just words, though there\u2019s still a lot of work required to turn these intentions into action.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\" style=\"text-align: center;\">Part of my remarks at today\u2019s city council debate in climate emergency and acceleration motion. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/zbU1BFzbS3\">pic.twitter.com\/zbU1BFzbS3<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u2014 Mike Layton (@m_layton) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/m_layton\/status\/1179558000022970368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 3, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When Councillor Layton first started meeting with environmental groups about the motion, we were unanimous that it had to commit the City to doing more, faster and in an inclusive way. The Toronto Environmental Alliance (TEA) then took the lead on gathering input from community groups and youth climate strikers, and pulled together a set of<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.torontoenvironment.org\/organizations_call_on_toronto_to_declare_climate_emergency\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">recommendations endorsed by 47 groups<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that set the frame for the Council motion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In declaring a climate emergency, Toronto City Council has committed to:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Set a <strong>net zero greenhouse gas emissions target<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>in line with keeping warming below 1.5 degrees.<\/strong> The City has set a new target of net zero by at least 2050, and will look at ways to achieve this target by 2040. It will also set interim targets and carbon budgets to ensure that we are on track to meet those long-term targets.<\/li>\n<li>Explore<strong> financing mechanisms to adequately fund climate action<\/strong> in the 2021 budget cycle (more on this below).<\/li>\n<li>Meaningfully <strong>consult and cooperate with Indigenous communities<\/strong> on the development and implementation of the TransformTO climate action plan, in line with the City\u2019s commitment to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.<\/li>\n<li>Apply the City&#8217;s <strong>Equity Lens to TransformTO decision-making<\/strong> in order to ensure that strategies include and benefit equity-seeking groups.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Collaborate with youth<\/strong> to increase their participation in the development and implementation of TransformTO.<\/li>\n<li>Apply a climate lens to <strong>evaluate the climate impacts of major City decisions<\/strong> including financial decisions.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Create a low-carbon jobs strategy<\/strong> that supports a decent work agenda and expands green industry sectors.<\/li>\n<li>Initiate a plan to <strong>become a green investment City<\/strong> and exclude fossil fuels from City investments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Turning these commitments into reality is still going to take a lot of work \u2013 keeping up the pressure in a context of competing budget priorities and a pro-fossil fuel lobby that never quits. Toronto does have some credibility on the file, as greenhouse gas emissions within the city are<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.toronto.ca\/services-payments\/water-environment\/environmentally-friendly-city-initiatives\/transformto\/torontos-greenhouse-gas-inventory\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">down 44% relative to 1990<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (with the provincial coal phase-out lending a helping hand).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The easy reductions, however, are largely gone. Getting to net-zero is going to be harder. And expensive, though of course doing nothing or not enough is terrifyingly more expensive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Achieving what&#8217;s in this motion is going to take a lot of effort from a lot of people, over a long period of\u00a0 time. This is why it has been inspiring to see so much Green New Deal-style organizing \u2013 which recognizes opportunities for greater equity and a better <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">kind<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of economy \u2013 in the lead-up to the emergency declaration.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One piece of the puzzle, and one that Greenpeace Canada <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/story\/7986\/oil-companies-just-gave-toronto-6ix-reasons-to-sue-heres-why\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">has been advancing with allies<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, is to make big polluters pay their fair share of the costs of acting on the climate emergency.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 1280px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-25780-1\" width=\"1280\" height=\"720\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2019\/03\/2-Min-Video-Final_31.mp4?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2019\/03\/2-Min-Video-Final_31.mp4\">https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2019\/03\/2-Min-Video-Final_31.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Just like tobacco companies misled the public about the health danger of cigarettes, oil companies hid the fact that they knew their oil and gas products would lead to climate change. For decades, Big Oil <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2019\/03\/648826b4-6rts-briefing-note-final-1.pdf\">funded efforts to cast doubt on the science<\/a> they knew to be true. Now, floods, wildfires, storms and heat waves are costing Canadians billions of dollars in damage. Unchecked climate change will make this ever-worse, affecting all us of \u2014 but the most vulnerable people are at the greatest risk.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">City staff are currently exploring legal avenues for making oil companies pay their fair share of the Toronto costs of dealing with the climate crisis they created.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Tell your councillor<a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/act\/tell-big-polluters-to-pay-up\/\"> to get on board<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Toronto declared a Climate Emergency. Now what? Watching Toronto City Council debate its climate emergency declaration, it was clear that even the most battle-scarred of politicos had been moved and\/or&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":25838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[23,25,32],"p4-page-type":[16],"class_list":["post-25780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate","tag-climate","tag-energysolutions","tag-oil","p4-page-type-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25780"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25841,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25780\/revisions\/25841"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25780"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=25780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}