Over the years, the City of Toronto has made it a priority to green its own operations. The City has cut its emissions by 40 per cent against 1990 levels through a variety of measures such as retrofitting numerous City-owned buildings for energy efficiency, collecting methane at three City landfills, and other projects such as solar photovoltaic installations, Deep Lake Water Cooling and major tree plantings.

The emission reductions generated through these projects and programs have the potential to generate proceeds if sold as carbon offset credits. Carbon credits are assets generated by greenhouse gas reductions and other initiatives that can be quantified, verified (by a third party), and serialized on a carbon registry. The Ontario Ministry of Environment is working to develop a cap-and-trade program to allow organizations to retire, bank or sell their carbon credits as early as 2012.

Public Notice: City of Toronto List of Carbon Offset Credits
Consistent with its policy, the City has created a list of projects and programs that may be eligible for future carbon offset credits. This document provides notice of the City's ownership or potential ownership of these carbon offset credits. It does not include all of the projects that the City has undertaken to reduce Toronto’s greenhouse gas emissions, only those that are or may be eligible to be registered as carbon credits. This document will be continually updated to reflect additions and changes, as required.

View the Public Notice: City of Toronto List of Carbon Offset Credits (PDF).

As stated in the Carbon Offset Policy, the City will consider selling its carbon credits only on the condition that the credits will be retired immediately, and not re-sold to potential polluters. Learn more about the City's Carbon Offset Policy.

The City is undertaking a review of its corporate policies in light of recent carbon market developments.  On May 3, 2011, a stakeholder consultation workshop was hosted to learn of the opinions of the non-profit, academic and business sectors on a proposed update to the City of Toronto's Carbon Credit Policy.  Read the Carbon Credit Policy Review - Workshop Report (PDF)

Learn more about the City’s emissions reduction targets and energy goals by viewing Change is in the Air: Clean Air and Sustainable Energy Action Plan and The Power to Live Green: Toronto's Sustainable Energy Plan.

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