Urban governance of climate change: Analysis of the implementation and ethical dimensions of Transform TO
Year: 2025
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Despite the rise in climate-related policies in the past decades, global emissions have paradoxically risen by approximately 50% from 2000 to 2023 (Ritchie & Roser, 2020). This unsettling trend accentuates the need to identify the progress of climate policies. The aim of this thesis is to assess the effectiveness of Toronto's focal climate policy, “TransformTO”. Adopted unanimously by the City Council in 2021, TransformTO outlines sector-specific Net-Zero by 2040 targets to significantly reduce emissions. I analyze the adequacy of the TransformTO both in policy form and implementation through four main criterias: environmental performance, social equity, feasibility of implementation, and ethical conduct. In summary, TransformTO presents as a rhetorically ambitious but practically indifferent strategy. While the City has set relatively high targets, it has not yet allocated the necessary funding to achieve them. The paper explores this gap between stated ambitions and actual measures taken, questioning what constitutes genuine climate action.
Source: eScholarship@McGill (McGill)
Author: Hardie, Emily Sakura
Institution: McGill University
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7084308499