Sustainable Peterborough has spent the last couple of years conducting an extensive organizational review, including a governance and plan review. This comprehensive work facilitated many insightful conversations and led to the decision that the new Sustainable Peterborough Plan should focus on helping the community implement and track progress towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Utilizing the SDG framework provides an opportunity for Sustainable Peterborough to continue the SDG work conducted through the 2019-2021 Community Forum led by Kawartha World Issues Centre and GreenUP. The SDG framework also aligns SP’s new strategic plan and Peterborough & the Kawarthas Economic Development’s (PKED) Future Ready Regional Economic Development Strategy – Sustainable Peterborough has been operating under the auspices of PKED since its inception in 2012, and a recent governance review has led to the mutually supported decision that this relationship continues.

Our new Strategic Plan was recently approved by the Sustainable Peterborough Coordinating Committee (SP CC) and the PKED Board of Directors. Work is already underway on Objective 1 of the new Strategic Plan. As such, Sustainable Peterborough is presently in the process of recruiting and selecting new members to sit on the SP CC. The SP CC shall consist of no less than 9 and no more than 12 members, with a proposed 2-year term length. The SP CC will have an overseeing, advisory role, meeting two or three times per year or as needed. 

Interested individuals are welcome to apply by filling out this skills matrix and emailing it to Anca Pascalau, Sustainable Peterborough Coordinator, at no later than July 5th. The Executive Committee will review the submissions and all applicants will be notified with the decision by the end of July.

MEDIA RELEASE – April 21, 2022

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Key focus for new Sustainable Peterborough Strategic Plan

[PETERBOROUGH, ON]: Sustainable Peterborough (SP) and Peterborough & the Kawarthas Economic Development (PKED) are pleased to announce the launch of Sustainable Peterborough’s new Strategic Plan.

Sustainable Peterborough has spent the last couple of years conducting an extensive organizational review, including a governance and plan review. This comprehensive work facilitated many insightful conversations and led to the decision that the new Sustainable Peterborough Plan should focus on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The SDG framework has become a recognized tool for advancing sustainability in the Greater Peterborough Area. Communities in Ontario and across Canada are working on localizing the SDGs. The SDGs have become a globally recognized framework for measuring progress towards sustainability. Benefits of using the SDG framework include the use of shared language and goal setting for sustainability across many communities globally and locally and access to tools to track and visualize progress towards the goals.

Utilizing the SDG framework provides an opportunity for Sustainable Peterborough to continue the vital SDG work conducted through the 2019-2021 Community Forum led by Kawartha World Issues Centre and GreenUP. It also provides an opportunity to use long-standing community connections and partnerships to build on the significant local interest in sustainability, raise awareness of the SDGs, and incorporate best practices from other communities.

The SDG framework also aligns SP’s new strategic plan and PKED’s Future Ready Regional Economic Development Strategy, which was developed through extensive community consultation. The Future Ready strategy identifies five SDGs as priorities for the region to achieve the vision of seeing Peterborough & the Kawarthas become the most sustainable and innovative community and economy in Ontario.

“On behalf of the Sustainable Peterborough Coordinating Committee, we are excited to work towards Sustainable Peterborough’s new mission of supporting, measuring, celebrating, and facilitating collective action among local governments, businesses, institutions, and organizations to annually track and measure progress towards achieving targets related to priority Sustainable Development Goals,” stated Karen Jopling and Michael Papadacos, Co-Chairs of the Sustainable Peterborough Coordinating Committee.

“In a sustainable economy, people live and do business in ways that are good for the economy, the environment, and communities. Sustainable economic development is about more than just being green; business activity reflects a commitment to sustainability, and, in turn, sustainability helps the economy thrive for future generations. The staff and board of PKED are looking forward to collaborating with Sustainable Peterborough on this new strategic plan.” said PKED’s President & CEO Rhonda Keenan.

The new Strategic Plan is available on the Sustainable Peterborough website.

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For media inquiries contact Anca Pascalau, Sustainable Peterborough Coordinator, at

In order to protect clients, visitors and employees, we have decided to close our physical offices until further notice. Staff can be reached via cell phone or email. Updates regarding closure will be provided on our website.

It is that time of year when we would typically commence work on the annual Sustainable Peterborough Report Card and Partnership Recognition Event and Awards. This year, however, we have exciting news to share. Sustainable Peterborough has embarked on a comprehensive SP Plan Update project that will likely wrap up towards the end of the year.

As such, just for this year, we are postponing the Report Card and Event until the Plan Update project is completed, as we focus our efforts, time, and limited resources on the Plan Update process. Stay tuned for more details, as stakeholders will be consulted throughout this process – your feedback is invaluable!

However, we always love to hear about all the great work our partners continue to undertake and we will continue collecting our partners’ 2019 sustainable accomplishments, as we will continue celebrating them on our website and through our social media channels.