Item - 2025.TA11.7

The Board of Directors of the Toronto Atmospheric Fund:

1.  Approved reallocation of $100,000 previously allocated to Toronto Atmospheric Fund’s 2025 program budget to the 2025 grants budget.

2.  Approved the following grants to be funded from the proceeds of the endowments indicated:

a. $50,000 over 18 months (from the Toronto and Canada endowments) to TREC SolarShare Co-operative (No.1) Inc. (“SolarShare”) to engage stakeholders (e.g., co-op members, partner renewable energy cooperatives, government, and electricity experts) to complete market research and development of community virtual net metering business models, and to advocate for regulatory changes that enable community virtual net metering.  

b. $150,000 over 16 months (from the Toronto and Canada endowments) to Business Renewables Centre – Canada to conduct a regulatory review of Ontario’s renewable energy policies and regulations in consultation with Ontario's major renewable energy developers, followed by advocacy by working groups of developers and corporate energy buyers to address barriers to corporate purchase and adoption of renewable energy. The Funding recommendation is subject to the following condition;

i. explore social contracting, workforce development and community benefits as part of stakeholder engagement and recommended strategies.

c. $66,650 over 6 months to Alectra Utilities (from the Toronto and Canada endowments) to conduct a study exploring how utilities can modify the distribution component of their rate structures to create an attractive environment for Electric Vehicle charging investments, encouraging both public fast charging stations and commercial fleet conversions.

3.  Declined three grant requests with a total value of $427,820. This is summarized in Confidential Attachment 1 to the report (July 4, 2025) from the Senior Grants Manager, Toronto Atmospheric Fund.

4.  Directed that the confidential information contained in Confidential Attachment 1 to the report (July 4, 2025) from the Senior Grants Manager, Toronto Atmospheric Fund 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.

The Board of Directors of the Toronto Atmospheric Fund recessed its public meeting to meet in closed session to consider the item as it pertains to financial information supplied in confidence to the Toronto 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 three grants with a combined value of $266,650.