Adapting To Climate Change Means Investing In The Right Infrastructure
In the post-Paris world of climate action, there is a new imperative to focus on adaptation to climate change impacts in partnership with reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It is clear now that we must plan for the changing climate we already have -- and for the challenges ahead.
According to NASA, 2015 was the hottest year globally on record. As a northern country, Canada is now, and will continue to be, disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change as warming progresses fastest closer to the poles.
We face country-wide challenges, some of which are region-specific, such as sea-level rise or thawing permafrost, and others that will affect all Canadians, such as the increasingly extreme weather events which are already elevating risk for our large network of roads, transmissions lines, municipal water systems, bridges, buildings and businesses, costing cities, insurers and taxpayers billions.
Local governments in particular are on the front lines. The 2013 Calgary flood was the most expensive insurance event in Canada ever, costing more than $1.7 billion in insured costs -- not to mention the uninsured costs, loss of productivity from shutting downtown Calgary and all its businesses, and the personal time and effort spent by so many Calgarians in dealing with the floods and their aftermath.
Adapting To Climate Change Means Investing In The Right Infrastructure | Mike Harcourt
In the post-Paris world of climate action, there is a new imperative to focus on adaptation to climate change impacts in partnership with reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It is clear now that we must plan for the changing climate we already have -- and for the challenges ahead.
According to NASA, 2015 was the hottest year globally on record. As a northern country, Canada is now, and will continue to be, disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change as warming progresses fastest closer to the poles.
We face country-wide challenges, some of which are region-specific, such as sea-level rise or thawing permafrost, and others that will affect all Canadians, such as the increasingly extreme weather events which are already elevating risk for our large network of roads, transmissions lines, municipal water systems, bridges, buildings and businesses, costing cities, insurers and taxpayers billions.
Local governments in particular are on the front lines. The 2013 Calgary flood was the most expensive insurance event in Canada ever, costing more than $1.7 billion in insured costs -- not to mention the uninsured costs, loss of productivity from shutting downtown Calgary and all its businesses, and the personal time and effort spent by so many Calgarians in dealing with the floods and their aftermath.
Adapting To Climate Change Means Investing In The Right Infrastructure | Mike Harcourt