This week, the Ontario government passed the controversial Bill 60 positioning Ontario communities for climate-resilience failure. This broad sweeping omnibus bill threatens key municipal planning powers and risks years of progress made to build  sustainable cities. 

WHAT IS BILL 60?

This week, the Ontario government passed the controversial Bill 60: Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025. The bill has sparked serious concerns (especially regarding housing security based on proposed amendments to the Residential Tencies Act) presenting another issue: how it positions Ontario communities for climate-resilience failure. This broad sweeping omnibus bill threatens key municipal planning powers and risks years of progress made to streamline and align low-carbon development and build resilient sustainable cities.

WHAT DOES BILL 60 MEAN FOR GREEN ROOFS AND GREEN INFRASTCUTURE?

Toronto made history as the first city in North America to introduce a green roof bylaw, which has since been used as a model inspiring similar legislation world-wide in cities such as Seoul, Sydney, and Copenhagen. Passed in 2009, it required new commercial, institutional, and residential buildings over 2,000 square meters to include a green roof, and according to the City, has resulted in the creation of more than 1,200 green roofs across Toronto.

On the same day Ontario introduced Bill 60, the provincial government quietly rescinded the Toronto Green Roof Bylaw – a move that has raised significant criticism among environmental groups as well as the city’s mayor and opposition MPPs, who underscore the importance of the policy as being crucial tool for improving energy efficiency, mitigating the impacts of urban heat, and managing stormwater to reduce flood risk.

HOW DOES BILL 60 REDUCE CLIMATE-READINESS?

Schedule 10 of Bill 60 amends the Planning Act, which expands provincial power and constrains municipalities’ ability to set local environmental or design standards. Although Bill 60 does not explicitly mention green roofs in its legislative text, it is clear that the intent is to prevent municipalities from requiring green roofs or municipal green development standards as an ill-informed attempt at streamlining and accelerating new developments. Essentially, Bill 60 consolidates planning power under the minister of housing, so that the minister’s planning decisions no longer have to conform to the provincial land-use planning statement.

Under the province’s new direction, these roofs will become optional, stripping the City of Toronto of its authority to enforce the Green Roof Bylaw. Despite the fact that a shift of this scale would normally require legislation rather than executive action, the change was enacted through an order-in-council without any public notice.

WHY IS THIS A CONCERN?

Bill 60 signals a major shift where the province will determine what environmental standards can be applied to new development. This abrupt action not only dismantles a globally recognized environmental policy, but also presents an even broader shift in how Ontario intends to regulate — or actually deregulate — green development standards (sustainable design and performance requirements for new developments).

Attempting to eliminate green development standards risks Ontario’s climate readiness and the health of Ontario ecosystems, and with that, the health of our communities. There is considerable evidence which directly illustrates green roofs as a design tool that support diverse species and biodiversity recovery, further serving as a nature-based solution to environmental challenges such as climate change and urban heat islands.

By repealing the bylaw and making green roofs voluntary, the provincial government is effectively removing one of our most effective tools for mitigating the impacts of climate change and supporting biodiversity recovery. It feels like the irony is impossible to ignore – Bill 60 claims to address housing yet weakens housing security and dismantles climate protections, and does so in the middle of both a biodiversity crisis and affordability crisis. As climate disasters force people from their homes around the world, it seems that Ontario is choosing to instead reduce the measures that help communities adapt to climate and economic realities.

REMEMBER: Your strongest tool is your voice. To push back against Bill 60, consider signing petitions, contacting your elected representatives, and supporting organizations advocating for tenants’ rights and environmental protections. For example, the Ontario NDP has launched a petition to stop Bill 60, and the Ontario Green Party has released an open letter you can send directly to Premier Ford.

THE NETS BIODIVERSITY ACTION AGENDA

The rollback of urban green infrastructure requirements under Bill 60 in Ontario will have nationwide repercussions, threatening biodiversity and undermining Canada’s progress towards achieving national environmental goals and conservation commitments. Our Biodiversity Action Agenda was developed for this reason, to advocate for strategies and policies like green-roofs, bioswales, permeable surfaces and native planting to create “nature-full” cities.

Biodiversity loss and climate vulnerability are deeply intertwined. The Action agenda, which was developed through a four-part conversation among a diverse group of experts and organizations, urges action at all levels to embed nature and support for biodiversity in urban planning and design. Bill 60 moves Ontario in the opposite direction. Dismantling green-roof mandates and removing the municipalities ability to require green infrastructure represents a major setback for Canada’s broader efforts to preserve our ecological heritage, support biodiversity, and build cities capable of being resilient against the growing impacts of climate change.

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