Climate Action Award

GHG Reduction / Mitigation Stream: Markham District and York Region

Markham District Energy (MDE) and York Region are delivering the world’s largest raw wastewater energy transfer system—an 18.5 MWt innovation that transforms municipal wastewater into renewable thermal energy. The system connects MDE's district energy network to York Region’s sewer, demonstrating how legacy infrastructure can be repurposed for modern climate solutions. By transferring wastewater heat, the system provides low-carbon heating and cooling for 1.3 million m² of residential and commercial space in downtown Markham. At startup, avoided natural gas will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20,000 Tonnes and conserve 35,000 m³ of cooling tower potable water usage. As population grows and system expands, these savings can grow to 30,000 Tonnes and 50,000 m³ annually. This project positions the wastewater sector as a key driver of rapid community energy decarbonization, serving as a critical contributor to climate action through direct coupling of energy and wastewater systems to enhance local energy security.

Climate Resiliency / Adaptation Stream: City of Toronto: Basement Flooding Protection Program

The Basement Flooding Protection Program (BFPP) is an infrastructure program with the goal of improving the City's resilience to severe storm events by mitigating flooding caused by sewer backups and excessive overland flow. The program is complemented by policies to mitigate basement flooding, public education, and a subsidy program. The BFPP is one of Toronto’s most significant climate adaptation programs. Basement Flooding studies assess the capacity of the City's existing storm, sanitary, and combined sewer drainage systems and recommend infrastructure improvements to reduce future basement and surface flooding. Over the past two decades, this program and its studies, design assignments, and construction of upgrades have had a significant footprint in the water/wastewater industry in the GTA. In addition to sewer construction, watermains are often renewed as per state of good repair planning. With the completion of all 67 Basement Flooding study areas across Toronto (see below), a significant milestone has been achieved.

GHG Reduction / Mitigation Stream: York Region: GHG Management Study

Everyone must play a part to combat climate change to ensure a sustainable future. A significant hurdle for the water sector is a lack of guidance on how to decarbonize including how both operational and embodied greenhouse gas emissions are considered within whole life carbon reductions. Many water and wastewater utilities in Ontario are just beginning to grapple with how to operate carbon reductions into their day-to-day activities. Decisions during the planning and design stages of capital development can impact greenhouse gas emissions over an asset’s lifetime. By the time construction begins, most decisions affecting the asset’s greenhouse gas emissions are locked in for water & wastewater treatment, water transmission & distribution and wastewater collection & conveyance.

Working with the consultant GHD Ltd., York Region created the GHG Management Study; a framework for quantifying lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions and evaluating reduction opportunities early in the capital planning and design process.

Climate Resiliency / Adaptation Stream

No winner was selected for the Climate Resiliency / Adaptation Steam for 2024.  The committee thanks those who submitted projects for consideration and encourages those to re-submit at a later date when projects are more developed and implemented.

Climate Change Resiliency / Adaptation Stream: City of Guelph

The City of Guelph developed their first Climate Adaptation Plan to address the risks and impacts of climate change on water and wastewater infrastructure, operations, and services. The City integrated climate risks into asset management and planning processes using a framework for addressing the challenges faced by the water and wastewater industry, such as increased flooding, drought, and water quality issues. In addition, Guelph’s Climate Action Plan was innovative by considering stakeholder engagement and including a Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) lens recognizing the disproportionate impact of climate change on vulnerable populations. Guelph’s Adaptation Plan was developed by Matrix Solutions.

GHG Reduction / Mitigation Stream: Region of Durham

The Region of Durham developed a long-term greenhouse gas strategy specific to its water and wastewater assets which aligned with the Region’s Corporate Climate Action Plan commitment of net-zero by 2045. The strategy includes a comprehensive GHG inventory inclusive of process emissions of methane and nitrous oxide, re-baselining its historical inventory, established interim GHG reduction targets, developed an action plan for GHG reduction, and identified areas for future improvement to move towards the 2045 net-zero target. Durham Region’s framework for developing the strategy has already been levered by other Ontario municipalities. The strategy was developed by Jacobs.

Adaptation/Resilience Category: The City of St. Catharines Climate Change Adaptation and Asset Management Project 

The winner in the adaptation/resiliency category is the City of St. Catharines for integrating climate change adaptation into their asset management program. The Climate Change Adaptation and Asset Management Project builds from the City's Corporate Asset Management Plan and guides the City's decision making on infrastructure assets. The pilot project focused on water and wastewater assests and had three phases to demonstrate a methodology and framework that could be applied across all other City assets. 

GHG Mitigation Category: Region of Peel's District Energy and Wastewater 

The winner in the GHG mitigation category is the Region of Peel's District Energy and wastewater energy transfer system to provide clean heating and cooling to the new Lakeview Village 18,000-person development. The wastewater energy component will utilize treated wastewater effluent from the GE Booth WRRF as the source of thermal energy for the district energy system. The project aligns with the Region's Climate Change Master Plan with an anticipated reduction of 10,000 tonnes-CO2e per year by eliminating naturnal gas that would otherwise have been used for heating. It should be operational in 2030. 

The City of Toronto's Wastewater Energy Transfer Project

Wastewater energy transfer (WET) is a massively underutilized renewable energy source across Canada. Though there are a growing number of projects breaking ground in Europe, very few North American municipalities have allowed WET systems to be installed. Through Noventa Energy and the University Health Network, Toronto Water is delivering the world's largest raw wastewater energy transfer, (WET) system. The project will provide 1.8 billion KWh of low-carbon energy to Toronto Western – about 90% of the hospital's heating and cooling needs. The total estimated carbon dioxide savings, over 30 years, equals 249,811 tonnes (calculated from electricity and natural gas savings as deferral of consumption). The carbon savings are equivalent to removing 1,800 cars from Toronto's roads annually. The project has identified the available heat/potential for 291 MW from additional connections from 300 kW to 20 MW for another 30 smaller users through the creation of a city-wide WET program. The key benefits are energy reliability for buildings, and revenue for the City for the sale of thermal energy while avoiding CO2e from energy consumption. There is exciting potential in their plans to expand and extend to other building infrastructures (up to 30) as well as discussion with other adjacent municipalities (eg. Mississauga). The project offers large GHG reductions but also improves the climate resiliency of the individual structures. The judges applaud Toronto Water’s initiative and success so far and encourage their efforts to extend the scope that would contribute substantial GHG reduction and climate resiliency benefits.