Women4Climate Mentorship Programme

Over the course of seven months, participants will benefit from a combination of mentoring, training and networking opportunities. As a participant, you will:

• Meet with leaders in the business sector, public sector, international organisations or academic institutions for one-on-one monthly mentoring sessions
• Participate in four knowledge labs to help you refine your project/idea; develop a business plan; create a finance plan; and prepare for the pitch competition, and access Women4Climate remote interactive trainings: Climate Communications & Storytelling, Creative Leadership, and Carbon Footprint and Reporting
• Peer-to-peer monthly webinars with the global Women4Climate community where mentees from other cities engaged in the programme present their projects and provides you with feedback
• Connect and build relationships with other mentees and mentors at three networking events, featuring prominent speakers and influencers
• Receive feedback to develop and pitch your project to a juried panel

The winner will receive a $20,000 cash prize and support to further develop or launch their project.

Candidates must:

• Be women or identify as women
• Live, study or work in Toronto
• Have a current climate action project, start-up business, or idea for a future project that you hope to launch or progress with the support of Women4Climate Toronto Mentorship Programme
• Be 18 years of age or older

Your project, idea or start-up business must:

Support the achievement of at least one of the targets or goals identified in these key City strategies*:

• TransformTO: Toronto’s ambitious climate action strategy lays out a set of long-term, low-carbon goals and strategies to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions and also improve our health, grow our economy, and improve social equity
• Toronto’s Resilience Strategy sets out a vision, goals, and actions to help Toronto survive, adapt and thrive in the face of any challenge, including climate change and growing inequities

Involve or engage the Toronto community in local climate action.

*Additional City strategies, plans and initiatives that may contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and/or improvement of Toronto’s resilience include: Biodiversity Strategy; City Asset Management; City Wide Real Estate Transformation; Electric Vehicle Strategy; Green Roof Bylaw; Long-term Waste Management Strategy; Parkland Strategy; Pollinator Protection Strategy; Ravine Strategy; Strategic Forest Management Plan; Toronto Green Standard; and Wet Weather Flow Master Plan.

Please submit your application to the mentorship programme via the online form on C40’s website.

The deadline to apply is 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday, July 31, 2020.

Application guidelines

Applying to the Women4Climate Toronto Mentorship Programme Competition (the “Competition”) constitutes your acceptance of these Competition Rules:

W4CTO_Official-Competition-Rules

Women leaders played a critical role in negotiating the Paris Agreement and continue to drive ambitious climate action in cities, businesses and NGOs around the world. Women also make up more than half the world’s population and are often disproportionately impacted by climate change.

The leadership and participation of women is critical in solving the global climate crisis.

Since Council’s unanimous adoption of the TransformTO climate action strategy in 2017, the City has implemented and expanded a number of key initiatives, including the launch of Neighbourhood Climate Action Grants, the issuance of Toronto’s first Green Bond, the completion of energy retrofits to 21 Toronto Community Housing buildings, the installation of solar panels on 100 City-owned properties, and the adoption of Toronto’s first Electric Vehicle Strategy.

In October 2019, City Council voted to declare a climate emergency and adopt a stronger emissions reduction target for Toronto: net zero by 2050 or sooner.

Toronto’s first resilience strategy was created in 2019.