The next CAFES Climate Caucus will be on Wednesday September 9th 2026 from 12pm – 2pm via Zoom. The main discussion will be on where things stand and the environmental impacts from AI Data Centres in Ontario.
Some Background:
On August 13, 2026, Premier Doug Ford and Energy & Mines Minister Stephen Lecce launched Ontario’s “Data Centre Playbook” in Guelph, a proposed framework for approving and evaluating large data centres. It is a draft out for a 30-day public consultation that closes on September 12, 2026 via the Environmental Registry of Ontario and the Ontario Regulatory Registry. This playbook is meant to feed the province’s broader AI Industrial Strategy coming this fall.
This comes among a wave of municipal pushback. Oakville passed a one-year moratorium the same week; Mississauga is mid-process on its own; Toronto residents are demanding one. The province is trying to reassert control before the moratorium pattern spreads.
Because companies are covering their own data centres costs, there are concerns that they will be setting up their own gas plants and polluting Ottawa. According to the Playbook there is also no guaranteed municipal right to say no, no limits on lobbying pressure to municipalities, no transparency requirements on ownership or energy use, and no binding limits on behind-the-meter fossil-fuel generation (which is a direct emissions risk). This is happening in other cities, and could happen here too.
Be sure to join the Climate Caucus on Sept 9th and learn more about this important issue.
