When the world’s leaders arrived at Glasgow for the United Nations Climate Conference (COP26), they were greeted with a poignant image. The official COP26 banner hung from the giant 175-ton Finnieston Crane at the edge of the River Clyde, a symbol of the city’s industrial heritage. The message was clear – it is “Time for Heavy Lifting.”
To reach the goal of keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees, there will have to be massive effort to decarbonize every workplace and every community in the world. It’s a path that the City of Toronto has been on for many years, and last month City Council voted overwhelmingly to support a new level of commitment to doing the heavy lifting needed to address the climate crisis.
In fact, cities across the world have often been in the leadership of translating lofty goals into lived reality. Networks of mayors and city staff have been experimenting and sharing best practices at a global level for decades. Toronto has often led the way, without a lot of fanfare. We have a district energy and deep lake water cooling system that services millions of square feet of commercial and institutional buildings downtown; a Better Buildings Partnership that supported massive energy retrofit projects; early adoption of recycling and organic waste diversion; the Toronto Green Buildings Standard; and the most electric buses in North America – all examples of real municipal leadership supported by labour.
TransformTO is setting even more ambitious goals. It seeks to make Toronto net zero by 2040. All new buildings must be Net Zero, and existing buildings will be renovated to that level. The city’s vehicle fleet and TTC will consist of 50% zero-emission vehicles, and extensive charging infrastructure will be installed for personal electric vehicles. It aims to have people walking, cycling, or taking transit for half of all trips shorter than 5 km. And it calls for the continued expansion of renewable electricity combined with energy-saving measures. Procurement is to align with climate objectives, and Toronto Hydro will have a leading role.
Of course, the City can’t do all this by itself. It requires senior levels of government to step up and enact strong regulations while investing in new technologies and workforce training. The federal Cabinet is making all the right statements, but the Ford government will have to change its approach. If they did collaborate, we could find a new path to sustainability – but it will take time, effort, and money.
If done right, we could have a job-rich transition to the new economy. There will be tens of thousands of jobs renovating buildings, installing new infrastructure, turning wasteful consumerism into a circular economy, making new products (we’ll need at least a million heat pumps) and taking more time to fix and improve everyday items. In the process, we need to make sure these are decent jobs with high skills, not precarious work paying poverty wages. And those job opportunities need to be part of an intentional plan for racial and gender equity by using tools such as Community Benefits Agreements to set people on real career paths.
This work won’t be easy. It will take dedicated staff, finances, and elected leadership to help guide the way. And it will require all the rest of us to pitch in and support the plan, especially when obstacles emerge. Civil society organizations, community groups, labour, and business all need to be involved. There will be a city Climate Advisory Group that will help centre the voices of equity-deserving groups, and work with Indigenous communities to share knowledge and learnings to inform the climate action.
An important new feature reflects the principles of Just Transition – there will be a dedicated table where the City’s unions will contribute the intimate knowledge of frontline workers to help implement the TransformTO measures for City operations and assets; and another for the construction industry that will draw on decades of union training experience. This will build on our recent experience at the Toronto District School Board. Labour Education Centre’s Working Green 2050 Project will help provide training and background for union reps at these and other sectoral tables as they are developed at the local or national level.
In August, the United Nations Secretary General said, “Today’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report is a code red for humanity. The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable…billions of people are at immediate risk.”
That’s a warning we all must heed. With TransformTO, Toronto is pledging to do its part of the heavy lifting needed for the future of this planet. The labour movement must be an integral part of making that happen – let’s roll up our sleeves and get the job done!
Labour Council resolves to:
- Endorse the latest TransformTO Net Zero Plan and work with unions in every sector to help achieve its goals
- Convene a network of union representatives to engage with the City of Toronto, and look to expand this approach to York Region, local school boards and other public institutions.
- Support Working Green 2050 to provide training and assistance for union activists engaged in sectoral or workplace emissions reduction efforts
- Call on the federal government to mandate sectoral joint emissions reduction committees to ensure workers are at the table – in a Just Transition to a net zero future.
