Six sustainability ideas that have gone mainstream in Canada: Article series
Discover practical and cost-effective sustainability solutions for your community
Many of today's innovative best practices in sustainability seemed radical just 10 years ago. In a series of six articles, we explore inspiring projects and sustainability solutions being implemented in cities and towns of all sizes across Canada.
Read the whole series to find new ideas to bring to your municipal council, learn more about concepts you may already have heard about, and find resources to help you implement these solutions in your community.
Articles in the series
How to gain $1.2M in value from wastewater
- Learn about Cranbrook, BC's award-winning project to reclaim wastewater for irrigation. Part of a series on sustainability ideas for Canadian communities.
How Saint-Hyacinthe turns waste into biogas
- Learn how a Quebec community creates biogas plus environmental and economic benefits from organic waste.
Do you have aging suburban infrastructure?
- Learn how Brampton, ON, is preparing its older suburbs for climate change. Part of a series on sustainability ideas for Canadian communities.
Why net-zero energy helps reduce emissions and costs
- Net-zero energy buildings are designed to produce as much energy as they consume. Learn how this can help your community reduce greenhouse gases and costs.
Cut GHG in half with low-carbon design
- Explore an important sustainability approach Canadian municipalities can use to lower GHG and infrastructure costs, and increase affordable housing.
How to quadruple bike use in your region
- Follow Ottawa's lead and integrate transit and cycling to increase bike use year-round. Part of a series on sustainability ideas for Canadian communities.
This series was inspired by "From Crazy to Common Sense: 'Radical' Ideas Whose Time Have Come," a workshop held at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' 2016 Sustainable Communities Conference.
Related Resources
See AllWebinar recording: Making sustainable land use decisions in your municipality
Watch our webinar to explore tools for sustainable land use decision-making. Learn to assess financial and climate impacts and apply practical strategies for your municipality.
Webinar recording: Accelerate your community’s net-zero transformation with new GMF funding
Watch our webinar to discover how GMF’s new funding can help you upgrade infrastructure and reduce local GHG emissions.
Futureproofing multifamily buildings for EV charging
This report outlines how Canadian decision-makers can support futureproofing of multifamily buildings and ensure all residents can access EV charging at home.
Toolkit: Making sustainable land use decisions in your municipality
Solutions for Canadian communities to achieve significant GHG emissions reductions in buildings and meet long-term sustainability objectives.
Webinar recording: How to get a project started, tips for small francophone communities
If you’re a small francophone municipality looking to develop sustainability projects and access funding, watch this webinar to learn how others overcame common challenges.
Webinar recording: Become a Climate Champion for Your Community
Watch this webinar recording to see how community climate champions face unique challenges in their role as they drive forward new ideas, mobilize partners, build relationships, and make tough decisions.
Webinar recording: Net-Zero Circularity: Procurement
Watch this webinar recording to see how circular procurement can help put the principles of a circular economy into action.
Webinar Recording: Sustainable municipal water management
Watch the webinar recording to discover current trends and research on the importance of sustainable municipal water management.
Learning Journey: Brownfields Redevelopment in your community
Find out how to rehabilitate and redevelop brownfields
Webinar recording: Removing funding and policy barriers to municipal fleet electrification
Watch this recording to learn how to electrify your municipal fleet of vehicles, reduce GHG emissions and build a healthier community.
Resources: Strengthening your municipality’s circular economy initiatives
Find case studies, exercises and worksheets to help your municipality reduce waste and strengthen its circular economy initiatives.
Webinar recording: Expert advice on electric vehicles for municipalities
Watch this webinar recording to hear from industry experts and municipal staff who have already embraced electrification on lessons learned and how to overcome common challenges.
Article series: How communities across Canada are electrifying their municipal fleets
This article series features inspiring ideas and projects being implemented in Canadian cities and towns of all sizes. Each article explores an innovative approach to electrifying municipal fleets.
West Vancouver overcomes fleet charging barriers by upgrading the electrical capacity of municipal facilities
Facing common roadblocks related to lack of charging infrastructure? Learn how the city overcame these barriers by conducting a full electrical system update of two key municipal facilities and installing chargers for existing and future EVs. This article is part of a series called Electrifying municipal vehicles.
Calgary scales its electric fleets to reduce transportation emissions
When municipal staff was tasked with incorporating hybrid and fully electric vehicles into the municipal fleet, they encountered a variety of procurement, operational and process barriers. Learn how they broke through these barriers and acquired more than 30 EVs in 3 years to create one of the fastest growing EV fleets in western Canada. This article is part of a series called Electrifying municipal vehicles.
Kingston overcomes fleet electrification barriers by adopting a leasing model
Confronted with financial, technological and policy barriers to electrification, the city developed a proactive strategy around a leasing policy to build their EV fleets. Discover how leasing can ease supply chain issues and support electrification until advanced EV technology becomes available in the market. This article is part of a series called Electrifying municipal vehicles.
Webinar recording: How to electrify your municipal fleet
Learn how to electrify your municipal fleet of vehicles, leading to reduced GHG emissions and healthier communities.
Priority Municipal Actions to Enable Zero Emission Vehicle Adoption
GMF and Low Carbon Cities Canada (LC3) collaborated to create six priority municipal actions to accelerate zero emission vehicle adoption.
Webinar recording: Benefits of integrated intensification for sustainable community development
This webinar teaches participants how land use decisions are tied to the fiscal health of a municipality and its ability to achieve climate targets.
Webinar recording: How to start the conversation about circular economies in your municipality
Video: The ongoing story of Banff’s hybrid bus fleet project
Listen to Michael Hay, Manager of Environment & Sustainability telling the story of Banff’s hybrid bus fleet
Video: new purpose for a 20-year-old brownfield site
Tara Tran, Senior planner, shares tips on how to sustain your efforts and progress in brownfield (or others) projects.
Video: Yorkton meets their feasibility study goals by valuing community involvement
Glenda Holmes, Water Works Manager, explains how a feasibility study helped the City of Yorkton ramp up the environmental benefits of its new water treatment plant by treating the wastewater it produced.
Video: New electric vehicle-sharing system reduces emissions and generates revenue
Six municipalities in Quebec have added electric vehicles to their fleets and made them available to residents through a car-sharing system.
Webinar recording: Take your project from study to capital
Watch this webinar recording and discover how others have successfully converted studies into a capital project that provides social, economic and environmental benefits.
Webinar recording: The 5 keys to a green municipal project business case
Watch this webinar recording and discover the five critical focus areas you need to address to get your project started, from financing and partnerships to integrating a triple-bottom-line approach.
Circular Cities & Regions Initiative
Interested in learning more about how the circular economy can come to life in cities and regions? Review the CCRI webinar recordings featuring speakers from leading organizations and global cities.
Brownfield Roadmaps
GMF's Brownfield Roadmaps provide a detailed overview of the process of bringing contaminated or abandoned sites back into productive use in your province or territory.
Webinar recordings: Best practices in municipal sustainability
How are cities and communities of all sizes tackling their environmental challenges? Find out from our five-part webinar series on innovations and opportunities in municipal energy, waste, water, transportation and land use initiatives.
Report: Sustainable land use practices in Canadian municipalities
A snapshot of emerging trends, key issues and best practices in sustainable land use.
Report: Solid waste management in Canadian municipalities
Expanding responsibility for producers to include the post-consumer stage of their products is a key solution for financial and environmental sustainability in the waste sector.
Report: Water management trends in Canadian municipalities
A snapshot of existing and emerging water management trends, best practices and opportunities for innovation.
Guide: LiBRe best practices framework
The LiBRe program is structured around a best practices framework for becoming a municipal leader in brownfield renewal.
Guide: Getting started on your brownfield sites
Discover how to raise awareness and secure a formal commitment to support brownfield redevelopment in your municipality. Read the guide.
Guide: Developing a municipal brownfield inventory
Free guidebook. 10 steps to creating your brownfield inventory. Libre Guidebook series.
Webinar recording: Engaging students to increase public transit ridership
Watch our webinar recording and discover tools, resources and inspiration your municipality can use to develop an initiative that gets more students riding public transit.
Guide: Engaging students to increase public transit ridership
This guide provides step-by-step information and tools for building a partnership between your municipality and school boards, engaging stakeholders and implementing a student transit pass program.
Webinar recordings: Plastic waste management solutions for Canadian municipalities
Watch our webinar recordings to see how your Canadian municipality can reduce and better manage your plastic waste through innovative solutions and approaches.
Guide: 2018 Sustainable Communities Awards project guide: Transportation – Kingston
Learn how to apply the best practices and strategies used by Kingston, ON, one of our 2018 Sustainable Communities Awards transportation co-winners.
Guide: 2018 Sustainable Communities Awards project guide: Waste
Learn how to implement the best practices and strategies used by Kitimat-Stikine, BC, our 2018 Sustainable Communities Awards waste winner.
Guide: 2018 Sustainable Communities Awards project guide: Transportation – Montreal
Learn how to apply the best practices and strategies used by Montreal, QC, one of our 2018 Sustainable Communities Awards transportation co-winners.
Guide: 2018 Sustainable Communities Awards project guide: Water
Learn how to implement the best practices and strategies used by Okotoks, AB, our 2018 Sustainable Communities Awards water winner.
Webinar recording: How to prepare a GMF capital project application
Need advice for preparing your GMF capital project funding application? Watch our webinar recording to hear tips from our staff and find out what reviewers are looking for.
Guide: Evaluate and improve your municipal brownfield programs
See how two communities benefit from evaluating their brownfield programs and find tips you can use in your municipality to enhance your offering.
Tool: Benefits of Sustainable Brownfield Activities
Cleaning up contaminants and redeveloping a brownfield site can bring communities a number of environmental, economic and social benefits. You can achieve even greater benefits by incorporating sustainable approaches throughout the site remediation and risk management activities.
Tool: Sustainable Remediation and Risk Management Options
Any technique that remediates or manages the risk of contamination at a site has an environmental benefit as it eliminates or reduces exposure to contaminants. Some techniques, however, are more sustainable than others.
Brownfield Roadmap: Nova Scotia
Use this easy-to-follow path to navigate the processes, legislative framework and funding for redeveloping brownfields in Nova Scotia.
Brownfield Roadmap: Alberta
Use this easy-to-follow path to navigate the process, learn about the legislative framework and find funding for redeveloping brownfields in Alberta.
Brownfield Roadmap: Manitoba
Use this easy-to-follow path to navigate the process, learn about the legislative framework and find funding for redeveloping brownfields in Manitoba.
Brownfield Roadmap: British Columbia
Use this easy-to-follow path to navigate the process, learn about the legislative framework and find funding for redeveloping brownfields in BC.
Brownfield Roadmap: Newfoundland and Labrador
Use this easy-to-follow path to navigate the processes, legislative framework and funding for redeveloping brownfields in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Brownfield Roadmap: Ontario
Use this easy-to-follow path to navigate the process, learn about the legislative framework and find funding for redeveloping brownfields in Ontario.
Brownfield Roadmap: Nunavut
Use this easy-to-follow path to navigate the process, learn about the legislative framework and find funding for redeveloping brownfields in Nunavut.
Brownfield Roadmap: Prince Edward Island
Use this easy-to-follow path to navigate the processes, legislative framework and funding for redeveloping brownfields in Prince Edward Island.
Tool: Sustainable Site Assessments
You can use various techniques to find out whether a suspected brownfield site contains contaminated soil or groundwater.
Tool: Finding Remediation Service Providers
Get a sense of the services required at different project stages and find providers using various directories.
Phase II Environmental Site Assessment and Remedial Action Plan, Cooper Site
As part of a plan to build a University of Waterloo satellite campus next to its downtown core, the City of Stratford completed a Phase II Environmental Site Assessment and Remedial Action Plan for the Cooper Site, a 7-hectare former industrial site.
Case study: Ladysmith Waterfront Brownfield Study
The Town of Ladysmith commissioned three studies of contamination at a former industrial site on its waterfront, to review options for remediation.
Brownfield Roadmap: Quebec
Use this easy-to-follow path to navigate the process, learn about the legislative framework and find funding for redeveloping brownfields in Quebec.
Brownfield Roadmap: Northwest Territories
Use this easy-to-follow path to navigate the process, learn about the legislative framework and find funding for redeveloping brownfields in Northwest Territories.
Tool: Sustainable remediation
Almost every Canadian municipality is home to a brownfield site.
Webinar recording: How to build partnerships to help revitalize your brownfields
Waterfronts were once bustling engines of a past industrial economy; some now sit vacant — void of the productivity that once supported their communities.
Guide: Best practices for scoping a wastewater upgrade project
Get your wastewater project off to a successful start with these best practices in defining project scope and engaging stakeholders. Part one in a three-part article series.
Guide: Lessons in planning and designing a wastewater plant upgrade
Learn how to avoid one of the most common mistakes in wastewater plant upgrade projects: insufficient planning and analysis. Part two in a three-part article series.
Guide: Tips for the building phase of a wastewater plant upgrade
Discover four practices that will help make the procurement, construction and start-up phase of your project a success. Part three in a three-part article series.
Webinar recording: Fostering brownfield redevelopment
Learn best practices in brownfield revitalization you can apply in your municipality, and understand FCM's brownfield funding opportunities and resources.
Tool: Checklist for a successful wastewater treatment plant upgrade
Follow this checklist based on best practices to help ensure success and address key issues during each phase of your project.
Article series: Tips for a successful wastewater treatment plant upgrade
Implement a successful wastewater treatment plant upgrade with help from this series of three articles packed with best practices from GMF-funded projects. Read the articles.
Tool: Evaluation tools for sustainable remediation and risk management
Browse through a range of tools to help you evaluate your options and compare potential benefits.
Brownfield Roadmap: New Brunswick
Use this easy-to-follow path to navigate the processes, legislative framework and funding for redeveloping brownfields in New Brunswick.
Report: Leadership in Brownfield Renewal Program Annual Review
Discover brownfield redevelopment initiatives and advancements in Canadian municipalities made during the Leadership in Brownfield Renewal program's inaugural year.
Webinar recording: Ideas to move brownfield projects forward
Join this webinar to get practical ideas for working with partners and community groups to bring abandoned properties back into productive use.
Webinar recording: Wastewater best practices, strategies and solutions
Watch the webinar recordings from our three-part, online workshop series on wastewater best practices, strategies and solutions for Canadian municipalities.
Guide: Sustainable Neighbourhood Development
This guide, Sustainable Neighbourhood Development: Practical Solutions to Common Challenges, is designed to help you re-imagine your municipality's approach to planning, development and regulation.
Guide: Promoting brownfield programs and opportunities in Canada
Read this step-by-step guide to marketing brownfield redevelopment opportunities to local developers and property owners.
Webinar recording: Optimizing your wastewater treatment plant
Join our webinar to learn proven practices to help you identify ways to optimize your existing wastewater treatment resources. Speakers from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change and the Grand River Conservation Authority will share lessons learned that you can apply in your municipality.
Webinar recording: Solutions to municipal sustainability challenges
Watch our webinar recordings to learn how you can address sustainability challenges in waste management, transportation and asset management in your municipality.
Webinar recording: Introduction to the brownfield redevelopment process
Watch this webinar recording for an introduction to the process of developing a brownfield site in your community, from the environmental assessment to site remediation.
Guide: Tendering a municipal brownfield project
Conducting an efficient tendering process is a key step in managing a successful brownfield redevelopment project.
Webinar recording: Managing stormwater through low impact development
Learn how to use green stormwater infrastructure, or low impact development, as an affordable alternative to grey stormwater infrastructure in your community.
Related Funding
See AllPilot: Net-Zero Transformation
Available funding: Evaluate innovative GHG reduction solutions in real-world conditions.
See Funding OpportunityCapital project: Net-Zero Transformation
Available funding: Deploy a full scale best-in-class GHG reduction solution.
See Funding OpportunityStudy: Municipal Fleet Electrification
Available funding: Assess the feasibility of the transition to zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) to significantly reduce GHG emissions.
See Funding OpportunityCapital project: Municipal Fleet Electrification
Available funding: Drive a partial or complete transition of your municipal and/or transit fleet to zero-emission vehicles.
See Funding OpportunityBusiness case: Organic Waste-to-Energy
Available funding: Assess viable waste-to-energy systems and business models for your project.
See Funding OpportunityStudy: Organic Waste-to-Energy
Available funding: Outline the design of a proposed organic waste-to-energy system.
See Funding OpportunityCapital project: Organic Waste-to-Energy
Available funding: Construct, commission and begin operation of an organic waste-to-energy system.
See Funding OpportunityStudy: Net-Zero Transformation
Available funding: Assess new approaches and solutions to bring your community closer to net-zero.
See Funding OpportunityPlan: Net-Zero Transformation
Available funding: Conduct integrated planning exercises to support the municipal transition to net zero.
See Funding Opportunity