Change is in the Air:Toronto's Climate Change, Clean Air and Sustainable Energy Action Plan, which was unanimously endorsed by Council in July 2007, set in motion Toronto's bold and ambitious climate change agenda. The plan includes more than 100 actions to reduce the greenhouse gas and smog-causing emissions which contribute to climate change. It also recommended the development of a comprehensive strategy to adapt to the long-term changes in our weather patterns that are already underway.

Change is in the Air was followed by Ahead of the Storm: Preparing Toronto for Climate Change. This document outlines a number of actions which can improve the City's resilience to climate change and extreme weather events. Ahead of the Storm was unanimously endorsed by City Council in July, 2008.

What is Climate Change Adaptation?
Climate change adaptation can be defined as initiatives and measures taken to reduce the vulnerability of natural and human systems to actual or expected climate change effects. Examples of adaptive actions include raising river or coastal dikes, and substituting more temperature-shock resistant plants for sensitive ones, etc.

More information

• Ahead of the Storm: Preparing Toronto for Climate Change (2008) (PDF)
  Full document – 46 pages This document describes a series of short-term actions to start in 2008 which will improve our ability to cope with climate change, and 29 longer-term actions that will result in a comprehensive adaptation strategy.

• Ahead of the Storm: Preparing Toronto for Climate Change – Highlights document (2008) (PDF) 19 pages.
  Provides a summary of the ‘Ahead of the Storm’ document and its highlights.

• Climate Change Adaptation Staff Report, 2008 (PDF)

• Toronto's Climate Change Adaptation Experts meeting

• Public Engagement on Climate Change Adaptation

• Climate Change Questions and Answers

• TUCCN Not Business As Usual: A Forum on Infrastructure & Climate Change Adaptation, April 30, 2009 event (PDF)

• Climate Change Adaptation Reference Collection
  For references to hundreds of studies, reports and tools related to climate change adaptation from a wide variety of sources, check the Climate Change Adaptation Reference Collection. The collection was compiled, in cooperation with the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR), in the course of the City's research on climate change adaptation.

• Toronto's Adaptation Actions (April 2011) (PDF)