Reports & Guides - Environmental Defence

Our Latest Report

Mid-Rise Manual

REPORT HIGHLIGHTS To deliver 1.5 million homes by 2031 and end Ontario’s housing shortage, governments must focus construction efforts on mid-rise buildings inside neighbourhoods that currently only allow low-rise construction….

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Reports & Guides By Issue

Our work is based on research, science, and a strong understanding of the facts. Below you will find our archive of reports, guides and media backgrounders that are available for download. You can find our government submissions here.

ENDING CLIMATE CHANGE

backgrounder: Canadian Oil and Gas Production in the Global Clean Energy Transition: Outlook and Economic Risks (2025)
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backgrounder: Expectations for Canada hosting the G7 Media Backgrounder (2025)
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backgrounder: Pipeline Push Ignores Fossil Fuel Costs to Public, Government, and Energy Trends (2025)
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backgrounder: Toronto’s Next Electricity Plan Media Backgrounder (2025)
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backgrounder: Tariff Relief & Retaliatory Measures: How Governments in Canada Should Respond (2025)
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backgrounder: Big Oil’s Lobbying Playbook: A Summary of the Fossil Fuel Industry’s 2024 Federal Lobbying. (2025)
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backgrounder: Federal Impact Assessment Needed for Pathways Alliance’s CO2 Hub (2024)
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backgrounder: The Clock Is Ticking for Canada to End Fossil Financing (2024)
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backgrounder: Clean Electricity Regulations Media Backgrounder (2024)
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PROTECTING ONTARIO'S ENVIRONMENT

backgrounder: Overview of Ontario’s Bill 5 (2025)
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report: Mid-Rise Manual (2024)
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report: Concrete Consequences (2024)
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report: DEVELOPING DISASTER (2023)
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report: Review of Existing Housing Unit Capacity Identified in Municipal Land Needs Assessments (2023)
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report: HIGHWAY 413: The Road to our Ruin (2022)
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report: The Freight Escape: How to Get Trucks Off the 401 Without Blowing a Hole in the Greenbelt (2023)
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report: HOT HOT AIR (and other gases): A REVIEW OF THE PAST FOUR YEARS OF ONTARIO’S CLIMATE CHANGE (IN)ACTION (2022)
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backgrounder: Backgrounder: Housing Affordability and Provincial-Municipal Housing Summit
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SAFEGUARDING FRESHWATER

backgrounder: The Ripple Effects of Draining Ontario’s Wetlands (2024)
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report: CLOSING ENBRIDGE’S LINE 5 PIPELINE (2022)
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backgrounder: Bringing biodiversity home: COP15 expectations for Canada (2022)
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guide: Bringing biodiversity home: COP15 expectations for Canada (2022)
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backgrounder: Enbridge’s Line 5 – The pipeline’s ongoing environmental risks to the Great Lakes and the climate (2021)
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report: Protecting and Restoring the Ecological Health of Our Waters (2017)
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report: Expectations for Domestic Action Plans under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (2016)
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guide: The Problem With Bottled Water (2016)
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report: Energy East – A Threat to Our Drinking Water (2016)
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ENDING PLASTIC POLLUTION

backgrounder: Massive waste incinerator expansion proposed for Brampton (2023)
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report: Still Left Holding the Bag (2023)
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report: Recycling Failure (2022)
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report: Plastic Pollution in Canada (2020)
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report: Talking Trash (2018)
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backgrounder: Incineration is not recycling (2018)
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report: Turning the Plastic Tide (2016)
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KICKING OUT TOXIC CHEMICALS

backgrounder: Next Steps for Toxic PFAS “Forever Chemicals” (2025)
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backgrounder: Canada’s PFAS Problem: Barriers and Opportunities for Action (2024)
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backgrounder: Moving forward on CEPA modernization: Key provisions in Bill S-5 (2023)
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backgrounder: Canada, Come Clean: products labelling and our weak toxics law (2023)
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backgrounder: Bringing biodiversity home: COP15 expectations for Canada (2022)
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report: PASSING THE BUCK (2022)
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report: The hidden cost of receipts: How BPA and BPS find their way into our bodies (2019)
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report: What’s in your lunch? How glyphosate finds its way into food (2018)
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report: Full disclosure: The case for stronger product labelling (2017)
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