Electric vehicle rebate among staff proposals to speed up Toronto’s target to become a carbon neutral city
Toronto’s staff are calling on council to set an ambitious target for its electric car infrastructure to slash greenhouse gas emissions by half by 2030.
An electric car charging station in Toronto. (Google)
With a target to slash greenhouse gas emissions by half by 2030, Toronto would be able to meet the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius.
Now, an expert panel on the city’s strategic infrastructure projects has recommended setting a target of 75 per cent of the city’s electricity supply to be generated from renewable sources by 2030.
And it calls for the city to double the supply of electricity from renewable sources by 2040 to ensure 100 per cent carbon neutrality by 2050.
There’s plenty on the table this year for city council – which is making it clear that electric cars are an essential part of Toronto’s future.
But the key issue is what kind of infrastructure to build:
Electric car charging stations in Toronto – a goal that won’t happen without a dedicated plan.
The City of Toronto’s Electric Vehicle (EV) Strategy outlines a five-year plan to ensure that the city meets the target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by half by 2030.
The proposed increase in renewable energy supply is part of a broader call for Toronto to be “carbon neutral” – a goal that doesn’t exist in government planning documents – but one that the province has endorsed.
It calls for 80 per cent of the city’s electricity supply to come from renewable sources by 2030, up from the 60 per cent it has now.
As for the target to become a carbon neutral city, its only listed goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent by 2050.