Climate Action Progress

• Supporting local farms to improve soil health, capture more carbon and increase resilience through the Experimental Acres program. With funding from Grey County and coordination from Grey Agricultural Services, the program supported 7 projects in 2024 and 6 projects in 2025, impacting 379 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 trees and shrub 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.

  • Saugeen Valley Forestry & Landowner Services

  • Grey Sauble Forestry Services 

  • Nottawasaga Valley's Forestry Program

  • Grand River Tree Planting

• The City of Owen Sound planted 150 trees in 2024, including collaborating with NeighbourWoods North to plant trees at the Kiwanis Soccer Complex and continuing to promote the Boulevard Tree Planting Program.

• The Town of the Blue Mountains completed a natural asset inventory and natural heritage study and will hire a new Urban Forestry Coordinator to support implementation in 2025.

• The Township of Georgian Bluffs has updated lawn maintenance practices to reduce carbon pollution and increase biodiversity.

• 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

• 6 municipalities have a re-use center or similar initiative. Check out The Blue Mountains' Dump Emporium, the Habitat for Humanity ReStores in Owen Sound and Hanover, Grey Highlands' Curbside Exchange Days, or Owen Sound Goods Exchange Day.  

• 4 community repair cafes across Grey County where local volunteers repair broken items and divert them from local landfills. Check out your nearest repair cafe - Owen Sound, The Blue Mountains, Meaford, or Durham. 

• The City of Owen Sound launched Green Bin program in June 2025.

• Municipality of West Grey continues to distribute composters and rain barrels to residents on a cost-recovery basis.

• Town of Hanover and Township of Georgian Bluffs continued roll out of Food Cyclers with over 400 distributed across the two municipalities.

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.

• Township of Georgian Bluffs co-developed a Fleet Electrification Planning Tool with Georgian Bluffs Climate Action Team and now preparing this for national roll out with support of Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

• Town of Hanover has entered a private partnership agreement to install 2 fast EV chargers at no cost to residents.

• Township of Georgian Bluffs is installing three new fast EV chargers; one will include a solar canopy installed to offset grid electricity, expected to generate enough power annually for 200+ charges.

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.

• Municipality of Grey Highlands has directed staff to consider their Sidewalk Connectivity Plan in all future capital projects.

• Presented draft Future Ready Development Program to County Council, created 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.

Building Retrofits for Improved Energy Efficiency

• The City of Owen Sound has replaced aging HVAC equipment at multiple facilities, upgraded building automation systems at two facilities, and is completing energy efficiency upgrades at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre.

• The Municipality of Grey Highlands has completed Building Condition Assessments to help plan retrofits and replaced an oil HVAC system with a heat pump.

• The Township of Georgian Bluffs has replaced baseboard heaters at the Fire Hall with heat pump technology.

Net-Zero & Climate Ready New Construction

• The Town of Hanover completed construction of its net-zero fire hall featuring solar power and high efficiency equipment to produce as much energy as it uses.

• The Town of The Blue Mountains has committed to a new net-zero Fire Hall building.

• The Township of Southgate is incorporating energy efficiency and climate readiness into design and construction of the new administrative building and all other new builds with support of the Climate Ready Infrastructure Service.

• The Town of The Blue Mountains is exploring feasibility of floating solar panels at Thornbury Wastewater Treatment Plant.

• Launched Resilient Grey, the County’s community climate adaptation planning process.

  • Three working group sessions, 20+ participating organizations

  • Comprehensive in-person and in-person public engagement resulting in 585+ interactions 

    • 145 online survey responses

    • 12 climate conversations with 200+ total participants

    • 18 community events resulting in 240 booth interactions

• Updated technical guidance for better stormwater management, erosion control and environmental impact studies.

• County, municipal and conservation 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.

• The Township of Georgian Bluffs approved two permeable pavement parking lots to provide more resilience to heavy rainfall.

• The Municipality of Grey Highlands has approved an Asset Management Coordinator position, which will help make infrastructure more sustainable and adaptable to climate change.

• Connected with residents at 38 community events, sharing information on current climate action initiatives and opportunities. 

• Grew our bi-monthly newsletter distribution 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.

• The Town of The Blue Mountains hosted 2^nd annual Sustainability Summit with 100+ attendees and continues to support the Green Economy Hub pilot.