Item - 2024.TA8.10

The Senior Grants Manager recommends that the Board of Directors of the Toronto Atmospheric Fund:

1.  Approve the following grants to be funded from the endowments indicated:

a. $318,970 over 24 months (from the Toronto, Ontario and Canada endowments) to Canadian Environmental Law Association to help ensure that an equitable framework is utilized in designing and implementing the City of Toronto's Building Emissions Performance Standards;

b. $109,500 over 18 months (from the Toronto, Ontario and Canada endowments) to Toronto Environmental Alliance to help ensure that effective and equitable Building Emissions Performance Standards are approved by Toronto City Council;

c. $100,375 over 12 months (from the Toronto and Canada endowments only) to MaRS Discovery District to quantify the local and system-level impacts of data centre expansion in terms of power, energy, and emissions, and explore potential solutions to reduce those impacts both for new and existing facilities, subject to the following conditions:

i.  TAF funding be contingent on MaRS securing at least $100,375 in additional funding from external sources; and

ii.  Confirmed participation on the Advisory Committee of at least one local distribution company from the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area whose service territory is expected to see major data centre growth; and

d. $50,000 over 12 months (from the Toronto, Ontario and Canada endowments) to Town of East Gwillimbury to undertake a full update of East Gwillimbury's Thinking Green Development Standards that aligns with other municipalities while supporting local development.

2.  Decline two grant requests with a total value of $583,266. These are summarized in Confidential Attachment 1.

3.  Approve the allocation of $244,388 over three months (first quarter of 2025) to support TAF programs as outlined below and to be funded from Canada, Ontario, and Toronto endowments except where otherwise indicated:

a.  Accelerating EV uptake: $18,750 to expand the availability of affordable public EV charging;

b.  Accelerating Net-Zero Ready New Construction: $25,000 to progressively strengthen codes and standards across the GTHA and advance supportive policy frameworks to ensure all new construction is net-zero ready by 2030;

c.  Accelerating Net-Zero Electricity: $42,500 to scale adoption of local energy solutions and clean electricity supply in support of the GTHA’s Transition to a net-zero grid;

d.  Retrofit Accelerator: $63,625 to build the market for deep retrofits by collaborating with leading building operators and leading industry solutions providers to deliver deeper retrofits faster and more cost effectively;

e.  Impact Investing: $21,250 to support prudent investments in impact-first projects/companies that are aligned with focus area initiatives, strategic directions and maintain management and compliance of TAF’s investment portfolio;

f.  Climate Policy: $12,500 (from Canada and Toronto endowments only) to be an effective and influential advocate for urban climate policy with all three levels of government in an election year with potential legal threats to core policy mechanisms (GDS);

g.  Grants: $8,375 to build the internal and community capacity needed to support effective design and delivery of TAF-funded initiatives;

h.  Research and Innovation: $14,000 to deliver critical insights and evaluation to support advancement of climate priorities; provide research leadership and support to TAF teams;

i.  Communications and Campaigns: $9,000 to increase TAF’s overall audience reach while maintaining our high engagement levels towards all focus area priorities;

j.  Program Development: $2,500 to identify new insights and opportunities for TAF programming; and

k.  Program Support: $26,888 to ensure programs have sufficient operational and admin resources for delivery.

4.  Direct that the confidential information contained in Confidential Attachment 1 remain confidential in its entirety, as it contains financial information, supplied in confidence to The Atmospheric Fund, which, if disclosed, could reasonably be expected to prejudice significantly the competitive position or interfere significantly with the contractual or other negotiations of a person, group of persons, or organization.

This report recommends approval of four grants with a combined value of $578,845 and the allocation of $244,388 over three months (First Quarter of 2025) to support the Toronto Atmospheric Fund programs.

If the recommended grants are approved, $403,976 would come out of TAF’s 2024 grants budget and $174,869 would come out of the 2025 budget. This would leave $167,100 remaining in the 2024 grants budget.

If the recommended First Quarter of 2025 TAF program allocation is approved, $244,388 would come out of TAF’s 2025 budget.

There are no internal allocations from the 2024 budget in this intake. In February 2024 TAF’s Board of Directors approved $946,000 to support the execution of internal programming in 2024. The balance of $69,600 in the program budget, intended to support emerging opportunities for the year, has not been spent to date and will remain in TAF’s endowment.