SDG 13: Climate Action

A global cultural shift is imperative to preserve and rehabilitate our fragile ecosystems, maintain our planet's vitality and ensure its inhabitants’ well-being. As such, TMU is committed to informing and supporting governments on climate action. As a leading higher education institution, TMU aims to be a touchstone of innovation and leadership in restorative climate action, social equity and economic stability, with more than 250 faculty members and a number of research centres and institutes studying and innovating to solve climate change and other sustainability issues.

• For more than 20 years, geography and environmental studies professor Dave Atkinson and his team have led research on Inuit lands in Northern Canada with permission. Using innovative data monitoring tools, they have successfully modelled physical and biological variables in a permafrost environment. Their findings help scientists understand and policymakers respond to environmental challenges posed by climate change.
• The Toronto Metropolitan Resilience Engineering Lab (external link)  (TMREL) explores human interaction with the environment focusing on the basics: food, water, shelter, health and well-being. Recognizing that the global environmental crisis threatens these basics through increasing extreme events worldwide, such as natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic, TMREL strives to navigate a path to a more stable relationship between immediate human needs and environmental sustainability.
• Lincoln Alexander School of Law Professor Alexandra Mogyoros is co-principal investigator on the Canada-Africa Partnership on Intellectual Property for Climate Action (external link) . The initiative investigates how IP frameworks can be better designed, interpreted, and implemented to support climate action and equitable development.

TMU’s Sustainability Office is committed to restorative climate action, and encourages active participation from the entire TMU community to reach our goals of building a more sustainable university and community. Some of the ways the office is helping to drive sustainability forward include offering a series of engaging events and activities to promote sustainable practices across campus.

• TMU’s first Sustainability Action Plan is a five-year plan to guide transformative change and empower our community members to contribute meaningfully towards a greener, more inclusive future. Long-term goals were identified based on their alignment with institutional values, community input, benchmarking opportunities, institutional peers and best practices, government targets and global perspectives.
• TMU holds a Gold rating (external link)  from the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS). STARS is a transparent, self-reporting framework that is widely used by colleges and universities to measure and benchmark sustainability performance. The framework assesses institutions on four categories: academics, engagement, operations, and planning and administration. TMU excelled in multiple categories including coordination and planning, campus engagement and academic research.
• TMU is a member of the Green Will Initiative (external link) , a City of Toronto program that seeks to accelerate the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from buildings in Toronto to support the City’s target of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 or sooner.

TMU is committed to advancing conversations on culture, economics, technology, social justice and the environment that lead to policies and actions that contribute to building inclusive, resilient, sustainable and dynamic cities. Through knowledge-sharing and collaborations with experts from cities and institutions around the world, we aim to find solutions to critical issues affecting the environment.

• TMU’s Sustainability Office offers learning opportunities for community members on actions they can take on campus and beyond to contribute to a more sustainable future. The Sustainability Office also provides leadership and professional development opportunities through internships and skills-based volunteering.
• TMU public health professor Jasmin Bhawra is using digital tools to bring underrepresented communities into climate research on their terms and on their own time. Her work has led to her appointment as a member of the Expert Panel on the State of Citizen Science in Canada at the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA).
• Bhawra’s research also involves working with rural and remote communities where participants may face geographical barriers to participating in research. With her Climate Care Toronto project, she uses online surveys, video calls and a custom platform to reach people where they are. At the centre of Bhawra’s work is a digital app originally developed during the COVID-19 pandemic to help northern communities get timely health information. She’s now adapting it for climate change. 
• In 2025, the Ted Rogers School of Management (TRSM) launched the Sustainability Leadership Network, which was designed to bring together a diverse ecosystem of leaders in industry who have demonstrated sustainable practices. Schneider Electric joins the network as a founding member, lending its global expertise in energy management and automation to help shape the Network’s strategic direction and impact.