Recap: 2025 Urban Policy Lab Case Competition

On January 24th, twenty-eight Master of Public Policy and Master of Global Affairs students at the Munk School participated in the 2025 Urban Policy Lab Case Competition. This year’s competition focused on decarbonizing Toronto’s existing building stock. Students were asked to develop a strategy that the City of Toronto could implement as part of their existing building strategy in the 2025-2030 TransformTO Action Plan. All teams presented a unique and thoughtful set of policy proposals to this multifaceted problem.

Each team presented to a panel of expert judges, including: 

• • Stewart Dutfield: Senior Project Manager in the Public Energy Initiatives – Existing Buildings unit within City of Toronto’s Environment, Climate and Forestry Division.
  • Aidan Grove-white: Principal at StrategyCorp, who leads several teams in the Land and Infrastructure Development and Municipal Services office.
  • Kate Manson-Smith, Munk School Fellow and former Deputy Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, in addition to numerous executive roles within the Ontario Public Service.
  • Michelle German, Associate Principal at Springboard Policy.

This year teams were also paired with mentors and Munk School alumni from the City of Toronto, to hone their proposals and get critical feedback leading up to the competition. 

This year’s mentors included: 

• • Ciara Hart: Senior Strategic Policy Consultant, Housing Secretariat
  • Kimberly Nesbeth: Anti-Racism Policy Consultant, TTC
  • Lamia Agnagic: Senior Strategic Policy Consultant, Housing Secretariat
  • Max Greenwald: Project Director, Corporate Initiatives

Congratulations to the winning team, made up of first-year students Ananya Yadav (MPP), Lukas Kortendieck (MGA), Yingxue Zhao (MPP) and Yuvika Bhatia (MPP)!

Their team identified financial, speed and equity challenges in the cities retrofit policy landscape and developed solutions to streamline processes and reduce costs for participants. They tackled these gaps from multiple angles, pitching tax breaks and reduced development charges for deep retrofitting, the creation of a centralized online portal to streamline permit applications and grant access, the establishment of a Public Green Fund to attract private capital, and the launch of neighborhood-based Retrofit Hubs to provide technical assistance and funding for high-priority areas.

Runner-ups Eunice Chong (MGA), Gauri Chuttani (MGA), Yifei Wang (MPP), and Xinyi Zhang (MPP) proposed a path to 50% emissions reductions with direct and indirect emissions considerations. They proposed an expansion of HELP and Hi-RIS funding to support private property electrification, and the citywide scaling of the existing pilot program to target all building types. Their strategy also proposed mandating renewable energy installations in new developments over 25,000 sq. ft. by 2035, strengthening the retrofit trade to attract domestic and foreign talent, and introducing integrated funding that combines grants and loans to cover up to 50% of retrofit costs, including geo-exchange systems.

Other groups presented the following: 

• Kikè Adoutan, Sonya Mungal, Ayyan Tareen, and Taylor Torreon proposed a solution focused on providing financial and technical assistance reducing upfront costs and providing free energy audits. Their solution had a robust risk/ benefit analysis and outlined relevant KPIs
• Erin Strachan, Thomas Yue, Jenna Hirji, and Young Luk’s solution involved a strong intergovernmental approach to reach ambitious targets. They proposed leveraging current provincial and municipal financial supports to incentivize the installation of 80,00 heat pumps per year to reach the cities 2030 goal. 
• Sahana Gunaratnam, Jacqueline Lo, Danillo Onetto-Bolefski, and Josyl Singh identified bureaucratic and regulatory challenges inhibiting the uptake of heat pump and solar permits. They proposed reducing red tape and streamlining application processes to make permit acquisition easier. 
• Daniel Ebrahimpour, Patrick Feng, Cassandra Portelli, and Kyrylo Khutornyi identified major barriers preventing the city from hitting their 2030 goal and proposed expanding partnerships with utility companies, expanding contracts with MURBS and commercial buildings while also increasing grants to single family homes. 
• Katherine Murphy, Sabreena Shukul, Julia Brahy, and Xiang Wu, proposed a layered implementation approach to modular housing accompanied with a new financial framework to decrease embodied carbon. Their solution outlined an expansion of the tower renewal program, creating a deep retrofit pilot program and city-wide retrofit model. 

Thank you to the judges, mentors and all our student participants for a wonderful event!