Item - 2024.PH17.8

The Planning and Housing Committee recommends that:

1. City Council direct the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, in consultation with the Executive Director, Development Review,  the Executive Director, Environment and Climate, the Chief Building Official and Executive Director, Toronto Building, the General Manager, Toronto Water, the Executive Director, Corporate Real Estate Management and other relevant Divisions to report to Planning and Housing Committee in the fourth quarter of 2025 on the update to Version 5 of the Toronto Green Standard including:

a. the results of further analysis and consultation of energy and emissions performance measures resulting from the Net Zero Transition Study; and

b. the feasibility of requiring mandatory embodied emissions caps for new development.

2. City Council direct the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, in collaboration with the Executive Director, Environment and Climate and the Chief Building Official and Executive Director, Toronto Building, and in consultation with the building industry, to develop a training curriculum for building design and construction professionals on the Toronto Green Standard, including new and emerging technologies.

3. City Council direct the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, in consultation with the Executive Director, Environment and Climate, the Chief Executive Officer, The Atmospheric Fund and other relevant stakeholders, to report back in the fourth quarter of 2025 as part of the update to Version 5 of the Toronto Green Standard with a plan to enhance voluntary uptake of the Tier 2 and Tier 3 Greenhouse Gas Intensity performance measures, including but not limited to consideration of the following:

a. Improvements to the design, promotion and implementation of the existing Toronto Green Standard Development Charge Refund program to encourage industry uptake of lower Greenhouse Gas Intensity requirements;

b. Improvements to the design, promotion and implementation of the existing New Development Sustainable Energy Plan Financing Program to increase industry uptake;

c. Development of new non-financial incentives including new policies, programs and practices to support voluntary uptake of the Toronto Green Standard.

With the adoption of TransformTO Net Zero Strategy in December 2021, Council committed to taking a number of actions to achieve net-zero emissions in Toronto by 2040 to align with the global 2030 trajectory to keep the planet's temperature habitable. This included the direction to accelerate implementation of the greenhouse gas emission limits performance measure in the Toronto Green Standard in 2025 and 2028 to ensure that buildings constructed in or after 2030 are near zero emissions. To address the feasibility of this acceleration, the City launched the Net Zero Transition Study.

As part of the study, staff, in consultation with stakeholders considered opportunities to introduce revised Toronto Green Standard performance measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in 2025. These opportunities were based on the results of the study's first phase.

The Toronto Green Standard (TGS) has been applied to new construction through the development review and approvals process since 2010 and has followed a standard frequency of updates on a four-year cycle, each time advancing the City's environmental sustainability priorities. This frequency has ensured the development industry has time to adjust to higher standards. Implementing changes between the four-year period is more challenging as it is not part of a comprehensive Toronto Green Standard update. Stakeholder feedback identified the need to understand the full suite of proposed changes associated with the next Toronto Green Standard update, as well as comprehensive costing on all potential changes. While changes would positively contribute to addressing the climate crisis, based on current market trends it is expected that the number of projects that would be affected by accelerating one year earlier than planned is negligible and would be more appropriately addressed as part of the next phase of the Toronto Green Standard.

This report recommends that staff incorporate revised greenhouse gas emission limits as part of the planned update to the Toronto Green Standard Version 5 performance measures, which would - if adopted - come into effect in 2026. A report on an update to Version 5 the Toronto Green Standard is targeted for the fourth quarter of 2025, allowing for completion of the second phase of the Net Zero Transition Study and further stakeholder consultation.