The Ontario government has officially released Ontario’s Five Year Climate Change Action Plan 2016-2020.

The proposed Climate Change Action Plan was leaked three weeks ago and the officially released version is substantially similar to the leaked version. The Bennett Jones Climate Change & Emissions Trading Group previously summarized the relevant details of the leaked version.

The Climate Change Action Plan is intended to create a wide variety of tools and incentives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the province. Whereas previous government policy in this area has focused on greening the province’s electricity grid, the Climate Change Action Plan is focusing on the following sectors: transportation, buildings, land use planning, government, and collaboration with First Nations and Métis communities.

It is expected that proceeds generated from the recently passed Climate Change Mitigation and Low-Carbon Economy Act and its related Cap-and-Trade Program Regulation will be $1.8 billion to $1.9 billion per year and such funds will be used to pay for the tools and incentives detailed in the Climate Change Action Plan.