By: Deanna McArthur
This is part three of a three-part series focused on presentations given at the IPCC Cities and Climate Change Science Conference held in Edmonton March 5-7, 2018. In Part One we touched on the sate of climate science today and in Part Two we touched on how climate change will impact Alberta.
Have you experienced an extreme climate event?
Chances are you have or know someone who was impacted by an event like the flood of 2013 or the Fort McMurray fires.
If the predictions we reported on in part one and two of this series about climate change and how it will impact Alberta are correct, it is going to be essential for cities and Albertans to begin preparing for the future.
“Municipalities really are the nexus between citizens, businesses and governments,” said Marc Huot from Energy Efficiency Alberta. “That makes them the natural leaders in the effort to address Climate Change.”
According to Huot, municipalities have three critical roles: as leaders and stewards, community enablers, and planners and responders.
After doing a risk and vulnerability assessment for Calgary The City found that in the future, the city will have much more heavy snow and ice storms, as well as increased heat waves and droughts.
“In short it will be too hot, too cold, too wet, and too dry over the next number of years,” said Dick Ebersohn, Manager of the Climate Change and Environment file for the City of Calgary. “It’s really how we start to adapt to those kinds of things that’s going to matter for us.”
The City of Calgary has a specialized team dedicated to facilitating City, citizen, and business actions to reduce human causes of climate change and prepare and adapt to the impacts of climate change. The team is developing a Climate Resilience Plan that will be presented to council in mind-2018.
The resilience plan will include a Climate Adaptation Plan, which will identify actions to reduce the impact of extreme weather events and climatic changes on infrastructure and services.
It will also include a Low Carbon Plan, which will identify the strategy and plan to reduce emissions and improve energy management in Calgary in line with its long-term targets:
Additionally, the city has put together a number of plans to prepare for climate change, including but not limited to:
In addition to this, Edmonton introduced its Community Energy Transition Strategy in 2015 which proposes a target approach to carbon reductions for the city of Edmonton. Some of the targets include:
To learn more about what the City of Edmonton is doing to prepare for the future click here.
Since the flood of 2013, the town did a risk assessment to understand what it needed to do to prepare for future floods. They found that over 875 houses, 100 businesses and several other important public and commercial infrastructures were at risk for flooding in the future.
The risk assessments also identified that Canmore is becoming warmer, wetter and wilder. In 2050 Canmore will see:
In response to this, Canmore has:
Share with us, what do you think your municipality needs to do when planning for a changing climate?
Read Part 1 of the series: It’s real, it’s us, it’s serious, and our window of opportunity is closing
Read Part 2 of the series: How will climate change affect Albertans?
Have you experienced an extreme climate event?
Chances are you have or know someone who was impacted by an event like the flood of 2013 or the Fort McMurray fires.
If the predictions we reported on in part one and two of this series about climate change and how it will impact Alberta are correct, it is going to be essential for cities and Albertans to begin preparing for the future.
“Municipalities really are the nexus between citizens, businesses and governments,” said Marc Huot from Energy Efficiency Alberta. “That makes them the natural leaders in the effort to address Climate Change.”
According to Huot, municipalities have three critical roles: as leaders and stewards, community enablers, and planners and responders.
- They have significant opportunities to reduce GHG emissions through investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy in their municipal facilities.
- They are the level of government that is most connected to its residents and the best suited to implement education programs, offer incentives and to motivate action in relation to energy efficiency and renewables.
- They are the first responders and planners with it comes to ensuring a strong local economy and when it comes to acting on disasters.
The City of Calgary
A recent CBC news article looked at how Calgary is preparing for climate change of the future.After doing a risk and vulnerability assessment for Calgary The City found that in the future, the city will have much more heavy snow and ice storms, as well as increased heat waves and droughts.
“In short it will be too hot, too cold, too wet, and too dry over the next number of years,” said Dick Ebersohn, Manager of the Climate Change and Environment file for the City of Calgary. “It’s really how we start to adapt to those kinds of things that’s going to matter for us.”
The City of Calgary has a specialized team dedicated to facilitating City, citizen, and business actions to reduce human causes of climate change and prepare and adapt to the impacts of climate change. The team is developing a Climate Resilience Plan that will be presented to council in mind-2018.
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| Source: City of Calgary Website |
The resilience plan will include a Climate Adaptation Plan, which will identify actions to reduce the impact of extreme weather events and climatic changes on infrastructure and services.
It will also include a Low Carbon Plan, which will identify the strategy and plan to reduce emissions and improve energy management in Calgary in line with its long-term targets:
- 20% reduction in city-wide emissions below 2005 levels by 2020
- 80% reduction in city-wide emissions below 2005 levels by 2050
Additionally, the city has put together a number of plans to prepare for climate change, including but not limited to:
- Flood planning
- 30 by 30 Water Efficiency Plan: reduce water consumption by 30% over 30 years.
- Waste Plan: 70% waste diversion by 2025.
- Biodiversity
- ReTree YYC
- Green Roofs
City of Edmonton
The city of Edmonton is also developing a Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Strategy to help respond to the impacts of climate change and protect the community, infrastructure and services. Recommendations from this strategy will be brought to City Council in 2018.In addition to this, Edmonton introduced its Community Energy Transition Strategy in 2015 which proposes a target approach to carbon reductions for the city of Edmonton. Some of the targets include:
- Community based greenhouse gas emissions: Reduce community-based greenhouse gas emissions by 35% by 2035.
- Energy Efficiency: reduce energy consumption by 25% per person by 2035
- Energy Resilience: generate 10% of Edmonton’s electricity locally by 2035
To learn more about what the City of Edmonton is doing to prepare for the future click here.
Town of Canmore
In 2013 Canmore experienced flood flow that was four times that expected of a 1 in 100-year flood. 120 homes were impacted and the community was devastated. This extreme climate event is what has turned the Town of Canmore into a leader in climate change resilience.Since the flood of 2013, the town did a risk assessment to understand what it needed to do to prepare for future floods. They found that over 875 houses, 100 businesses and several other important public and commercial infrastructures were at risk for flooding in the future.
The risk assessments also identified that Canmore is becoming warmer, wetter and wilder. In 2050 Canmore will see:
- Increase of 1.9 degrees Celsius in the mean annual temperature
- Increase of 5% of mean annual precipitation
- Decrease of 5% of summer precipitation
In response to this, Canmore has:
- Updated its emergency response plan and flood response plan
- Purchased additional equipment such as tiger damns, generators and water pumps
- Mapped the areas the could be affected by floods and will plan future development around these maps
- Added a debris net that will retain woody debris and rock should another flood occur. A debris flood retention structure is in the planning stages as a more permanent way to protect the community from debris
- Hosting additional emergency preparedness and fire prevention campaigns
- Developed an education campaign to raise awareness of forest fire risk and mitigation and preparedness and response options for private property
Share with us, what do you think your municipality needs to do when planning for a changing climate?
Read Part 1 of the series: It’s real, it’s us, it’s serious, and our window of opportunity is closing
Read Part 2 of the series: How will climate change affect Albertans?