The focus of the fund is on increasing environmental restoration and remediation activities which repair environmental harm, such as planting native trees, shrubs or plants to help mitigate and adapt to climate change, rebuilding fish habitat and creating fish spawning beds, stabilizing stream banks and creating buffer strips to reduce erosion and nutrient run-off, controlling invasive species that disrupt local ecosystems, and restoring streams to improve habitat and water quality. It also prioritizes resilient communities and local solutions to environmental issues, such as improving the resilience of natural ecosystems by restoring areas of significant environmental and ecological importance, installing rain gardens to reduce the risk of flooding and help communities adapt to climate change, and environmental monitoring that provides data to understand and support the protection and conservation of the natural environment.

Applications must be submitted by September 24, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. EDT. Funding is available only in regions where environmental penalties were collected, with allocations as follows: Southwest ($1,602,577.85), West-Central ($721,425.00), and Northern ($585,875.32). No funding is available for Eastern or Central regions in 2025. The minimum request for funding is $5,000.

Eligible applicants include Indigenous communities and organizations, schools, colleges and universities, municipalities, incorporated not-for-profit organizations, and incorporated community-based groups.

This initiative ensures that environmental penalties are reinvested back into local communities to support ecological restoration, conservation, and climate resilience.

For more information, visit Ontario.