Ralph Torrie is an analyst, thought leader, and advocate for sustainable development. He got involved in energy and environmental issues in the 1970’s while still a physics student at the University of Waterloo and has been working for environmental justice and sustainability ever since.
In the early 1980’s he managed the first study of the potential for conservation and renewable energy in Canada, and in 2002, working with the David Suzuki Foundation, he produced the first low carbon scenario analysis for Canada, the first such scenario analysis done anywhere. When the pandemic hit in 2020, he produced a plan for a green, post-Covid economy recovery, and he continues to promote business and policy strategies for accelerating the sustainability transition.
He organized the energy workshop at the 1988 Toronto Conference on the Changing Atmosphere and drafted the world’s first GHG reduction target, the so-called “Toronto Target”. He pioneered the methods for local climate action planning and co-invented the world’s first software for supporting local government climate action planning, software that was translated into several languages and adopted around the world.
In the 1980’s he worked with North American environmental, peace and anti-poverty organizations to help shape the emerging vision of sustainable development and his testimony before the World Commission on Environment and Development is quoted in their final report Our Common Future. He has served on the boards of several environmental organizations, and was the Green Party federal candidate in Northumberland in the 2008 and 2011 federal elections.
In addition to co-founding a successful consulting and software business, Mr. Torrie served as the Assistant Coordinator of the Energy Research Group of the United Nations University and the International Development Research Centre, Vice President of ICF International (NASDAQ :ICFI), Managing Director of Navigant Consulting (NYSE :NCI), and Managing Director of the Trottier Energy Futures Project. He is currently Director of Research for Corporate Knights, a media and research company based in Toronto.
Ralph lives in Cobourg, Ontario with his partner Judy Smith.
