Mayor Says Toronto Will be North America’s Greenest City

toronto_bike_rack.jpg

Toronto Mayor David Miller vowed last week to make Toronto "the leading environmental city in North America." The Toronto Star reports:

Mayor David Miller is pledging to slash the city’s greenhouse gas emissions
by 30 per cent by 2020 and a whopping 80 per cent by 2050.

Miller
and city council will unveil a plan today that sets ambitious targets
for reducing emissions that lead to climate change, increasing
so-called green energy usage and encouraging retrofitting of city homes
and businesses to make them more energy efficient.

Miller said the city could levy higher taxes against SUV owners than owners of hybrid vehicles. He has also talked about taxes on parking lots in areas that are well served by public transit, including the downtown core. "You need to make simple changes that encourage people to change their behaviour," he said. "We will be creative, and we will offer creative suggestions to Torontonians. Some will be radical."

Photo: William Self/Flickr

  • Eric

    O Canada! Any chance they’ll annex New York and bring us into the 21st Century?

  • Don’t believe the hype … there is no real political will here to address the real serious issues despite a recent over-whelming second mandate for Mayor Miller. The Bike Master Plan
    has been severly under-funded from the start and
    has no hope of being completed by 2012 as the the Green Plan would have you believe.

    Martin Reis
    Toronto.

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

C40 Large Cities Climate Summit: Welcome Reception

By Aaron Donovan |
From May 14 – May 17, 2007, leaders of municipal governments and international businesses from over thirty world cities will convene in New York City for the second C40 Large Cities Climate Summit. Cities are responsible for three-quarters of the world’s energy consumption, and as such, the world’s largest cities have a critical role to […]

Mayor Livingstone: $50 to Drive an SUV into Central London

By Aaron Naparstek |
London Mayor Ken Livingstone said yesterday that he wants to introduce an emissions-based congestion charging fee in an attempt to reduce his city’s carbon dioxide output and to encourage cleaner transportation. The mayor’s proposal is to charge the heaviest polluting vehicles emitting 225 grams of CO2 per kilometer, a £25 fee to drive into London’s Central Business District. At today’s […]

A Message from Copenhagen: Climate Plan Must Include Walkable Urbanism

By Ben Fried |
The energy-saving benefits of transit aren’t limited to the transportation sector. Image: Jonathan Rose Companies via Richard Layman. At a panel discussion yesterday at the Copenhagen climate summit, American policymakers and transit experts delivered a clear message: Walkable urban development must be part of any effective plan to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. Thanks to […]

New York City 2030. London Today.

By Aaron Naparstek |
On Thursday, as New York City’s highest ranking transportation officials argued before City Council that the city’s increasing traffic congestion and automobile dependence is "an indication of the vitality and the growth of the city of New York," London’s Mayor Ken Livingstone was in Davos, Switzerland announcing that he aims "to make London the world’s […]
STREETSBLOG USA

Oregon DOT Chief Under Fire for Claiming Highways Cut Emissions

By Angie Schmitt |
How often do state DOTs lie with numbers to justify building highways? There’s so much funny math buried inside air quality formulas or traffic projections, a better question might be: Do these agencies ever tell the truth? Here’s a case where a dishonest case for highways was flushed out into the open. David Bragdon, former chief of Portland’s regional planning organization, recently accused state DOT […]

Zero Carbon is the Goal for Woodstock

By Jason Varone |
Randolph Horner, renewable energy developer, on the roof of town hall Mayor Bloomberg is not the only one going green. Woodstock, New York wants to be America’s first carbon neutral city by 2017. The Telegraph reports: Woodstock town hall’s large flat roof is blotted out by 112 solar panels – an early manifestation of the […]