Green Communities Canada

Green Communities Canada, founded 1995, is a national umbrella organization for community-based non-profits that deliver practical, positive, hands-on sustainability programs. Programs range across most of the Sustainable Development Goals in their impacts. They address waste reduction, energy efficiency, sustainable transportation, climate stabilization, healthy ecosystems, air and water quality … 

Joint programs managed by Green Communities Canada currently address home energy retrofits (including low-income retrofits), green stormwater infrastructure, and active school travel.

GCC developed the performance-based home energy retrofit incentive that was adopted by the federal government and became a massive success Canada-wide. With our members we have delivered over 200,000 home energy audits. We also helped to introduce low-income energy efficiency programming to Canada.

Our award-winning RAIN Community Solutions program includes Depave Paradise, which involves volunteers in tearing up unused pavement to “liberate the soil” and increase infiltration.

We are currently delivering a three year $3.5M Ontario Active School Travel project province-wide designed to make walking and wheeling on the school journey the norm. We also work directly with Toronto school boards and the City to increase school zone safety and remove an important barrier to active school travel.

Green Communities are about creating “bottom-up” culture shift as the foundation for the systemic change we seek. In addition to hands on programming, we pursue local, provincial, and national policy goals rooted in on-the-ground knowledge and experience.