Ontario Taking Action to Help Communities Fight the Effects of Climate Change

Province’s First-Ever Multi-Sector Impact Assessment Will Help Communities Identify Climate Change Risks and Strengthen Resilience

Toronto — Ontario is taking another step forward in its fight to address climate change by undertaking the first-ever multi-sector provincial climate impact assessment.

The assessment will help the province better understand where and how it is vulnerable to the effects of climate change and will provide information to communities to help them undertake a more strategic approach to adaptation planning and infrastructure investments to prevent and mitigate climate change risks.

“Our government is taking action in the global fight to reduce emissions and strengthen our resilience to the impacts of climate change that are already happening in our communities, such as more frequent extreme weather events and flooding,” said Jeff Yurek, Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks. “This impact assessment will help the province, municipalities, Indigenous communities and other local partners make more informed and timely decisions to keep communities and people healthy and safe.”

Ontario will access the best science and information to determine where and how climate change is likely to affect communities, critical infrastructure, economies and the natural environment. As a first step, the government has posted a request for bids to procure a vendor with expertise in the assessment of impacts, vulnerabilities, risks and opportunities across a wide range of sectors.

Launching Ontario’s first-ever climate change impact assessment is a key part of the government’s Made-in-Ontario Environment Plan to protect our air, land and water, prevent and reduce litter, and support communities and families to continue to do their share to reduce greenhouse gas emission and increase their resilience to climate change without a carbon tax.

QUICK FACTS

• Under a business-as-usual global emissions scenario, Ontario’s average annual temperatures are projected to rise by more than 3°C by the 2050s.
• The severe ice storm in April 2018 resulted in $190 million of insured property damage in Ontario. Less than a month later, a wind storm caused $380 million in insured damages.
• Ontario has issued a request for bids to procure a vendor for the climate change impact assessment. The contract will be awarded in early 2020 and the assessment will take place over two years. The release of the final impact assessment is slated for 2022.
• In addition to implementing the climate change impact assessment to help Ontarians prepare for the impacts of climate change, the government is also working to address climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from large emitters through its finalized emissions performance standards.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• Search for the climate change impact assessment opportunity listing on the Ontario Tenders Portal, JAGGAER
• Read the draft Made-in-Ontario Environment Plan
• Learn how a carbon tax isn’t the only way to fight climate change