Chosen as one of Canada's Greenest Employers for 2010:
By Richard Yerema, Mediacorp Canada Inc. staff editor (Apr 21, 2010)
Some of the reasons why Ontario Public Service was selected as one of Canada's Greenest Employers (2010):
released its "Go Green Action Plan" in 2007 that provides an overall framework for action to help the province reduce its total greenhouse gas emissions, setting province-wide emission reduction targets, strategies for promoting more widespread use of clean and renewable energy sources, and a range of measures to reduce the carbon footprint of the province's industrial, transportation, municipal and residential sectors -- the plan is championed by the Climate Change Secretariat, who reports directly to senior levels of government
in support of the action plan, and to ensure that the OPS is "walking the talk", the government established an in-house "Green Office" to oversee it's own efforts to reduce it's own environmental footprint
the Service has established carbon dioxide reduction targets in keeping with its overall Go Green Action Plan -- to a 19 percent reduction in emissions below the 2006 baseline level by 2014 and 27 percent by 2020 -- through addressing vehicle use and fuel consumption, paper consumption, business air travel, packaging and waste reductions, water and energy consumption
as part of its reduction efforts, the OPS diverts electronic waste from landfills (over 1 million pounds since 2007), is moving to FSC-certified paper products where possible (and double-sided printing), paperless pay stubs, has optional summer attire programs for many employees (reducing the need for AC in the summer), has updated its auto fleet procurement policies (with nearly 500 hybrids on the road), recently hooked-up Queen's Park up to Enwave's Deep Water Cooling system in Toronto (saving enough energy each year to power 1,000 homes), and has introduced a number of renewable energy options (from Bullfrog green energy purchases to direct use of solar and wind energy at some of its northern sites)
encourages employee involvement through a educational green intranet site, called "Think Green", and has employee-led Green Teams across the OPS to help develop and implement new practices across the organization, including aggressive recycling programs to car pooling to encouraging support for annual events such as Earth Day, Earth Hour and the annual Clean Air Commute Week
through the Ministry of Research and Innovation, the Service recently established a unique Green Fund for Innovative Technology (called GreenFIT) to encourage the government's purchase and piloting of innovative Ontario-made green and clean technologies
through the Ontario Power Authority, the province recently established the progressive feed-in tariff (FIT) program which offers premium and stable prices for renewable power producers -- recently announcing the approval of over 180 large scale production developments to add to the over 500 smaller projects that have already been approved -- a significant step in encouraging alternative energy production in Canada's most populous province
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