Climate Risk on the Rise: Canada’s Approach to Limiting Future Climate Impacts

Abstract

Now more than ever, extreme weather events, driven by climate change, pose serious risks globally. These events are projected to increase in frequency, intensity and duration, giving rise to significant threat and the likelihood of greater costs in terms of economic losses, mental/psychosocial stress, insurance claims, political unrest, and in some cases, fatalities.

For Canada, climate change has become one of the most pressing issues over the past few decades. Historically, Canada has been at the forefront of climate preparedness. More recently, Canada has seemingly not kept pace with its international counterparts who have implemented initiatives such as novel cost-sharing programs for high-risk properties, national tri-governmental partnerships for flood management and government-run and administered flood insurance programs.

The primary issue for Canada is that individuals, private businesses, capital markets, and all levels of government lack mechanisms to deploy well-informed standards and guidelines that have been developed to better adapt and improve resiliency to a changing climate.

That said, Canada is not without success in its attempt to become more resilient against climate change. As this chapter explores, household- and lot-level flood risk resources can help educate homeowners on how to better protect properties from flooding, well-developed standards and guidelines can assist in preparing existing communities and future developments from climate impacts, while financial standards and disclosure guidelines offer ways for companies to report on material climate risks. Armed with these new developments, along with insights from other countries’ climate initiatives, Canada has the potential to become a strategic leader once again in the global fight against climate change.