Climate Action Progress

Going Green in Grey is Grey County’s bold plan to cut carbon pollution and create a more prosperous, sustainable, and resilient community for all. This page showcases   progress so far, highlighting successes and current initiatives undertaken by Grey County, local municipalities, and community partners.

Going Green in Grey actions are organized into community themes and leadership actions for our own facilities and operations. For each theme, we’ve captured a few key highlights from the past year.

For full details about our progress on each action, check out the Council Report presented on July 24, 2025.

• $91,500 in grant funding to make Grey County buildings more energy efficient.

• Designing and building new County facilities as net-zero ready, including the Rockwood Terrace Long Term Care Home and the Durham Paramedic Base. 

• 10 departments engaged in workplace sustainability challenge.

• $100,000 of federal funding towards the installation of 20 electric vehicle fleet chargers. This will allow the County to begin testing electric vehicles (EVs), with two light duty EV vehicles to be purchased 2025. 

• 4 work bees with 40+ volunteers to continue naturalization at the County Administration Building in collaboration with NeighbourWoods North.

• Regular Communities of Practice meetings to collaborate with municipal staff and 10+ public sector organizations.

As a community plan, Going Green in Grey relies on working with other County departments, other levels of government, neighbouring counties, educational and healthcare institutions, community organizations, businesses, and residents. This annual report showcases the collaborative work of over 40 community partners who have contributed to our achievements in the past year.

Given the extent of community involvement, it is especially important to share and celebrate our collective success. This progress report aims to demonstrate leadership and increase awareness of current initiatives and priority actions, so we can continue to leverage strategic partnerships and collaborations to maximize the County’s return on investment.

Nature-Based Solutions & Agriculture

• Coordinated with Grey Agricultural Services, the Experimental Acres program provides funding and support to local farms to help improve soil health, capture more carbon and increase resilience. Since 2023, the Experimental Acres program has supported 19 farms, directly impacting over 440 acres of farmland.
• Showcasing and promoting local food and local producers through the multi-year [gath-er] initiative.
• Promoting the Living Snow Fence Program and planning 2025/2026 plantings. 
• Developing an Ecological Replacement and Enhancement Policy and updating the Grey County Forest Management Bylaw.
• Local Conservation Authorities and ALUS Grey Bruce continue providing tree planting services and stewardship grants to landowners.

Waste

• Grey County continues holding regular meetings with municipal staff to share waste management knowledge and explore opportunities for collaboration.
• 4 municipalities have organics/green bin collection and 6 municipalities have a re-use center or similar initiatives.
• 4 community repair cafes across Grey County where local volunteers repair broken items and divert them from local landfills.

Transportation

Zero-Emission Vehicles

• Through the Rural Recharge Regional EV Fast Charging Network, Grey County has secured $600,000 in provincial funding for 3 EV fast chargers in Grey County and, in total, $2.5 million in funding across the region to unlock private investment and a network of 12 EV fast chargers in 2025/26 at no cost to residents.
• 6 municipalities currently have at least one EV or hybrid vehicle in their fleet

Active Transportation & Rural Transit

• Leveraging $9.5 million in government funding over 5 years, regional partnerships, and data from Grey Transit Route pilot to develop a unified regional transit network.
• Updating County policies using best practices and public input to implement paved shoulders in the most effective areas for safer cycling.
• Promoting safe cycling routes through signage, an updated cycling map, and a multi-media Share the Road campaign.

Buildings & Development

• Developed draft Future Ready Development Program in consultation with municipal planners, the development industry, and the public. This project is in collaboration with Dufferin and Wellington Counties and leverages $445,600 in federal funding over 3 years. 
• Promoting current retrofit programs and opportunities through Home Retrofit webpage and educational postcards.

Climate Adaptation

• Launched Resilient Grey, the County’s community climate adaptation planning process.
  • Three working group sessions, 20+ participating organizations
  • Comprehensive public engagement with 18 community events, resulting in 585+ interactions 
    • 145 online survey responses
    • 12 climate conversations with 200+ total participants
    • 16 community events resulting in 240 booth interactions
• Updated technical guidance for better stormwater management, erosion control and environmental impact studies.
• County, municipal and Conversation Authority staff continue to collaborate to align hazard mapping with County and municipal mapping. Conservation authorities require site-specific analysis for flood-prone and erosion prone areas.

Outreach & Engagement

• Connected with residents at 38 community events, sharing information on current climate action initiatives and opportunities. 
• Grew our bi-monthly newsletter by 58% to over 500 subscribers
• Co-hosted the third Youth Climate Action Conference with The Sustainability Project, Learning for a Sustainable Future, local school boards and 20+ other local organizations.
  • More than doubled attendance with 130 elementary students and 30 educators from 27 local schools in 2024.
  • Secured over $40,000 in external funding annually in 2024 and 2025 to support the event and youth-led projects.
  • Co-developed a local toolkit and network of local educators and community mentors.
• Through the Youth Climate Action Fund, the Town of The Blue Mountains, with support from Grey County, has funded 20 youth-led projects across Saugeen Ojibway Nation territory, with over $44,000 distributed in Round 1 and more than $73,000 awarded in Round 2.
• Developed “Going Green in Grey Stories” to share success stories from across the County, to launch in Summer 2025.

Next Steps

The Climate Initiatives team continues to focus on implementing priorities identified in Going Green in Grey and by Council. Major projects include completing the County’s climate adaptation plan, advancing the Future Ready Development Program, and identifying data-driven opportunities for County investments to support long-term fiscal responsibility and sustainability.

County staff will continue to seek and leverage external funding opportunities to maximize the impact of County investments. County staff will also continue to build strategic partnerships as well as broader capacity to implement specific actions. For example, the municipal Communities of Practice will continue to explore opportunities for collaboration. Further, staff will continue to routinely evaluate these partnerships as mechanism to achieve shared goals.

For more information about Going Green in Grey, our projects, and how you can help, visit grey.ca/climate-action or drop us a line at climate [at] grey.ca (climate[at]grey[dot]ca)