Sustainability
We Have A Vision
Kingston — Canada's Most Sustainable City. It is a vision that is fully expressed in the community-built Sustainable Kingston Plan. This integrated community sustainability plan initiated by FOCUS Kingston contains goals tied to themed areas to support the four pillars of sustainability: environmental responsibility, social equity, economic health and cultural vitality.
The Corporation of the City of Kingston is one of many community partners to Sustainable Kingston. Kingston's Strategic Plan demonstrates how the City aims to apply sustainable thinking to all of its programs, services and facilities.
The four City of Kingston Sustainability videos feature City workers and other Kingstonians committed to making Kingston Canada's most sustainable city.
Visit our City of Kingston YouTube channel to view these and other City videos.
Initiatives
The initiatives below are categorized under pillar headings, but it is easy to see that most support more than one pillar — THAT'S sustainability.
Please select a heading from the following menu for further information:
Environment
- Kingston Transit Redevelopment Plan
- Waste diversion programs (Green Bin, Blue/Grey Boxes). Goal: to divert 65% of residential waste from landfill.
- Solar photovoltaic installations on City rooftops
- Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) policy for City buildings
Social
- Municipal Fee Assistance Program - subsidized transit and recreation for low-income Kingstonians)
- Community Gardens program
- Freeing up public land for affordable housing.
- Accessibility planning to remove barriers and encourage inclusivity.
- Community Investment Fund. Provides grants to community programs.
Cultural
Economic
- Planning to support the revitalization of Williamsville
- Supporting North Block redevelopment strategy
- KEDCO's promotion of City-developed employment lands
- Brownfields' redevelopment
- The City's annual municipal capital levy is subject to a capital policy which adds an incremental 1% annual increase to the tax levy for capital infrastructure purposes. This allows for responsible asset management ensuring the longer-term sustainability of the municipality's capital infrastructure and reducing current infrastructure deficits.*