How Toronto is Pursuing Zero Emission Mobility

I’ve been making the case that if we’re going to build zero emission transportation systems, cities and local governments need to be outlining real, credible pathways to get there. (I spoke about that towards the end of a 10 minute talk, here.)

That may sound obvious, but relatively few cities in North America have done it. Toronto is a happy exception.

In 2017, the city put together TransformTO, a detailed plan for how to cut emissions 20% from 1990 levels by 2020, 65% by 2030, and 80% by 2050. That might not sound impressive, since a lot of jurisdictions have set ambitious long term climate targets. What’s more interesting is that in addition to setting goals, Toronto has produced a detailed analysis of the policies it’ll take to get there. 

In their ‘low carbon scenario’, the city proposes a comprehensive list of transportation policies to be phased in by 2050, including a significant expansion of public transportation, banning cars from large areas of the city (see image below), a huge increase in the share of short trips completed by bike, and a downtown congestion charge. That’s pretty much hitting a home run when it comes to sustainable mobility policies. 

They also model a rapid program of vehicle electrification, with every vehicle on the road assumed to be zero emission by 2050. You can find the full list of actions starting on page 51 of this report.

One notable result is that vehicle electrification delivers roughly 10 times the emission savings of a very ambitious program of bike infrastructure, limits on personal car use, and transit expansion. You can see that - potentially surprising - result in the chart on page 5 here. 

TransformTO is more than just long term scenarios - it also includes a heavy focus on short term, measurable commitments. That’s another area where the Toronto plan excels.  It includes implementation updates and emissions inventories. They have dedicated reports on short term actions. The volume of reports is almost overwhelming.

Regardless of what you think of the specific policies TransformTO advocates, we need every jurisdiction to be thinking the same way: “what’s it going to take to get to zero emissions, and how do we get there?” Few have, so we often find ourselves debating issues with little or no grounding in data.

I’m curious what you think - know other cities that are doing it better? Thoughts on how Toronto is approaching the problem?

New & Worth a Read

• Why Sprawl Could be the Next Big Climate Battle [link]. Related: Portland, OR just passed the most ambitious single family zoning reform in the country.

• Rewiring America has a simple message: Electrify Everything. Coverage of the plan here. The take on transportation: we can keep driving, as long as we electrify. Thoughts?

• Parisian carshare is being shaken up by an electric vehicle so slow, small, and light that a 14 year old can drive it. Meanwhile, the US basically doesn’t buy cars anymore-- only trucks. 

Till next time,

Andrew