Location: Toronto, Ontario
Deliverable: GHG emissions calculator for individual households
Key Features: community GHG emissions inventory, neighbourhood engagement, bottom-up, grassroots, household climate action
Project Neutral is an ambitious initiative to transition neighbourhoods to carbon neutrality. A primarily volunteer-led, grassroots initiative, Project Neutral works with existing community leaders to establish a greenhouse gas baseline, build capacity through workshops and partnerships, and identify individual, household and neighbourhood actions that result in reduced energy use and carbon emissions.
Ashley Smith, of Fundamental Inc., was responsible for developing the GHG emissions inventory calculator for the first cohort of two communities. Emissions from all household categories were included and Project Neutral partnered with Internat Energy Solutions to ensure emissions factors were up to date, accurate and reflected the local context of Toronto’s infrastructure service provision.
Ashley was also involved in developing community engagement forums and monthly workshops with topics such as “How to read your household carbon footprint report”, “How to insulate your home”, “Conservation 101”, and “Renewable energy”.
The desired impact of Project Neutral was to engage with community members to identify the sources of emissions over which they have control and allow informed decisions to reduce emissions and environmental impact.
