Environmentalist Graham Saul is the most recent Metcalf Innovation Fellow. The Metcalf Innovation Fellowship program provides critical thinkers with the opportunity to ask hard questions and propose...

The Ontario provincial government’s decision to opt out of carbon pricing should not be an excuse for inaction as there are many ways to reduce carbon pollution. The report offers up a wide range of tried-and-true climate strategies including, natural gas conservation, supporting made-in-Ontario clean technology, building more public transit, introducing new programs to reduce pollution from freight vehicles, and creating stronger energy-efficient building standards.

Carbon Landscapes supports leaders, organizations, and Indigenous Nations who are tackling climate change and biodiversity loss with integrated solutions. We gravitate towards work that addresses a...

Menu 2020: Ten Good Food Ideas for Ontario is one of five reports the Foundation released in June of 2010 that together present a new vision for how we think about, produce, and consume food. The...

The goal of Metcalf’s Cycle City Program is to help build a constituency and a culture that support cycling in Toronto. Cycle City funding supports public education and community organizing,...

In Every Community a Place for Food: The Role of the Community Food Centre in Building a Local, Sustainable, and Just Food System is one of five reports the Foundation released in June of 2010 that...

In mid-November, Metcalf grantee Environmental Defence released Pollution Solutions: Eleven Ways Ontario Can Take Action on Climate Change, a comprehensive report that outlines a range of solutions...

A healthy and robust local food system is dependant on farmers having access to high quality farmland. Yet across Ontario, development pressures have permanently removed millions of acres of fertile...

The Green Budget Coalition released 'Recommendations for Recovery and Budget Actions in 2020-2021', its annual report. It focused on a set of recommendations for how the federal government can follow-through on its commitment to a green recovery.

This year’s report by the Green Budget Coalition  focuses on a comprehensive set of recommendations for how the federal government can follow-through on its commitment to a green recovery.

This report focuses on  how to reduce methane emissions in the oil and gas sector, which has become an increasingly popular way to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Methane is almost 100 times as potent a greenhouse gas as carbon dioxide. The good news, however, is that methane stays in the atmosphere for less than a decade and can be managed both effectively and inexpensively, making it one of the most cost-effective ways to address climate change. Moreover, reducing methane emissions will have an immediate positive impact.

Drawing from five years of research in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, the authors analyzed national demographic, geographic, and transportation data sets, evaluated cycling programs, conducted interviews with municipal staff and community organizations, and collected costing data for cycling programs and infrastructure across the city, in addition to researching how to measure the cross-cutting benefits of cycling. While pointing to the importance of good cycling infrastructure, the guide also makes recommendations covering programming and engagement, culture, policy, and addressing hills and inclement weather.

Metcalf is delighted to announce the inaugural grants in our Environment Program’s Carbon Landscapes funding stream. The goal of Carbon Landscapes is to connect climate action and conservation...

In June, Metcalf approved grants to Environmental Defence, Équiterre, Nature Conservancy of Canada, Smart Prosperity Institute, and Soil Conservation Council of Canada.

A rising carbon price is the most cost-effective way to cut greenhouse gas emissions. But on its own, it’s not enough. That’s why other complementary policies are needed. Determining what those...

Co-authored by Smart Prosperity Institute researchers, Katherine Monahan and Ben Filewood, with support from Metcalf and the McCall MacBain Foundation, this report is aimed towards policymakers and other stakeholders interested in nature-based climate solutions. The report describes potential policy tools that deliver GHG mitigation while also protecting or improving biodiversity.

New Farmers and Alternative Markets Within the Supply-Managed System is one of five reports the Foundation released in June of 2010 that together present a new vision for how we think about, produce,...

Nurturing Fruit and Vegetable Processing in Ontario is one of five reports the Foundation released in June of 2010 that together present a new vision for how we think about, produce, and consume...

Scaling Up Urban Agriculture in Toronto: Building the Infrastructure is one of five reports the Foundation released in June of 2010 that together present a new vision for how we think about, produce,...

Canada’s vast forests, grasslands, oceans, and wetlands provide essential ecosystem services that have already absorbed significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Yet these globally significant ecosystems could play a much bigger role in climate change mitigation with increased protection and wise stewardship. In the report, lead author Florence Daviet and her team present a road-map for both scientists and policymakers to use conservation strategies as a means to achieve climate and biodiversity goals.

On Thursday November 1, 2018 members of Toronto’s environmental community gathered for the launch of Graham Saul’s Metcalf Innovation paper Environmentalists, what are we fighting...

Despite their benefits, energy efficiency initiatives have struggled to achieve their full technological and economic potential to reduce to energy demand. This study seeks to understand the dynamics behind these developments, and to identify potential strategies and design principles to inform the development of more effective and resilient governance structures for energy efficiency in Canada.

Toronto’s population is expected to increase 35% to almost 4 million by 2041, placing great stress on the City’s main road arteries. Much of this growth will take place downtown, where the population is projected to double. The report notes that street design is an evolving practice, with key ingredients for greatness including placemaking, mobility, economic vitality, safety, and accessibility. This report profiles five redesigned Toronto streets and examine what makes each of them successful and also identifies five additional streets that have the potential for greatness.

As Ontario’s cities, industries, and farms continue to grow, so do the impacts they have on our environment. Yet these environmental costs are not factored in the prices we see in...

A range of opportunities and challenges for Indigenous-led conservation and carbon storage in Canada are identified in a new Metcalf-funded report from the Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership. Emerging from a two-year research and engagement project, the report is informed by five components: a literature review, in-person gathering, individual interviews, the creation of eight short films, and mapping work that identifies carbon storage values across the country in relation to Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas.

The following note was sent from Sandy Houston, Metcalf’s President and CEO, to sector partners and colleagues in November 2017 announcing the launch of a new funding stream in our Environment...

This Smart Prosperity Institute report, supported by Metcalf, McCall MacBain Foundation, and the Government of Canada, examines the role conservation finance could have in Canada. Conservation finance refers to investment strategies and financial arrangements that generate both ecological and financial returns.

Metcalf commissioned the Green Prosperity Papers to connect university-based researchers in Ontario with timely public policy challenges that bridge the environment and economy. Each paper identifies...

Cycling in downtown Toronto has been a success story, with the number of cyclists steadily increasing over the last 25 years. However, the reverse is true in the city’s inner suburbs: in places like Etobicoke, North York, and Scarborough, fewer people now cycle either for recreation or to commute than in 1996.The report is both an analysis of impediments to cycling that suburban Toronto communities face and a how-to manual on ways to encourage cycling outside Toronto’s downtown core.

Farmers for Climate Solutions, a Metcalf grantee, is quickly emerging as key farmer-led coalition focused on advancing climate solutions in agriculture. In response to the ongoing impacts of the pandemic, the organization has produced a set of recommendations for how farmers can play an important role in the context of a green recovery.

Most Canadians don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the carbon footprint of freight. But we should and we must think about it, according to Bora Plumptre, Eli Angen, and Dianne Zimmerman,...

The following note was sent from Sandy Houston, Metcalf’s President and CEO, to sector partners and colleagues in July 2021 announcing the new funding emphasis for Carbon Landscapes. Dear...

While most Canadians don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the carbon footprint of freight we should and we must think about it, according to the authors of this report. After the oil and gas sector, transportation is the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada, accounting for 24 per cent of total emissions. Within it, freight – the movement of goods by road, rail, air, and marine – is the fastest growing segment. Since 1990 emissions from freight have increased 125 per cent. By 2030 these emissions are expected to surpass those of personal vehicles.