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It is not every day that a small-town mayor is considered a guest of honour at an event involving multiple cabinet ministers and members of parliament. But in the context of 2024, Jasper is no ordinary town. In July, Canadians watched as flames tore through the beloved town nestled in the Canadian Rockies. First there was the deep anxiousness of whether the wildfire would reach the community, and then, as communications failed, the dread that came from questioning if there would be a town left. Taking the stage at the National Climate Adaptation Summit, Mayor Richard Ireland could have shared a story of loss. A story of homes engulfed; livelihoods destroyed; a town overwhelmed. While his address paid homage to the hard realities of the tragedy, what resonated most was the story of a community that planned for the worst, and as the flames approached turned preparation to action. Jasper’s leadership long ago realized that it was vulnerable to wildfire risk and rose to the challenge. Over decades they thinned vegetation, established response procedures, and retrofitted infrastructure to reduce the likelihood of combustion. By the 2024 wildfire season, Jasper was arguably the most wildfire-ready municipality in the country. While headlines dwelt on the fact that 30 per cent of structures were tragically lost, the crucial flipside is that 70 per cent—including all the critical infrastructure key to the town’s recovery—was saved. That wasn’t by chance. Nor was the fact that, within a span of hours in the middle of the night, Jasper National Park, the Municipality of Jasper, and the Province of Alberta were able to evacuate 25,000 people. By a wide margin, 2024 was the most expensive year for climate disasters in Canadian history. From wildfires and floods to hail and hurricanes, virtually no corner of the country escaped unscathed. While insured losses are a useful proxy to communicate the extent of impact, they fail to convey the role local governments like Jasper play in mitigating the severity of potential damage. Building resilience from the ground up In 2023, the Government of Canada released its National Adaptation Strategy. A defining feature of the strategy is the recognition that addressing climate change impacts requires a whole-of-society approach. While the federal government plays a central role, private and public actors alike share the responsibility of creating a resilient Canada. But Canada cannot be a climate-ready country if local governments lack the tools and resources to respond to the challenges they face. In 2024, as part of the National Adaptation Strategy, the Government of Canada designated the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Green Municipal Fund (GMF) to administer a $530-million contribution over eight years through the Local Leadership for Climate Adaptation (LLCA) initiative. As one of the largest single investments in climate resilience in Canada’s history, LLCA will support at least 1,400 projects across the country to enable local governments to better respond to climate change. Turning challenges into opportunities Canada’s escalating climate challenges demand action from every order of government. Local governments, already on the frontlines of climate adaptation, shoulder an immense responsibility—not only as the largest owners of core public infrastructure in Canada, collectively managing an infrastructure portfolio valued in the trillions of dollars, but also as key players in addressing Canada’s housing affordability crisis. To achieve the ambitious housing targets identified by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation will require the investment of hundreds of billions more in supportive infrastructure in coming years. Despite the challenges, there are also opportunities. Through their day-to-day operations, local governments wield enormous financial heft and can influence decisions that shape the long-term resilience of their communities. Even incremental changes to the way local governments behave can snowball into enormous results. By leveraging funding and supports, municipalities of all sizes can transform their infrastructure and planning processes to meet both climate and housing demands. Initiatives like LLCA provide a pathway for municipalities to align their operations with resilience goals, insuring progress towards a more sustainable future. Transformative adaptation means embedding a climate-resilient community mission into long-term planning and operations—acting on what is to come, rather than playing catch-up. For instance, soon-to-be-released research by the Canadian Climate Institute finds that the small portion of new community developments most at risk of flooding accounts for nearly all the growth in financial risks. Preventing damages by avoiding development in the most hazard-exposed areas not only protects key community investments but also works to ensure progress made towards closing Canada’s housing gap is not undone by each fire or flood. Preparing communities for climate risks The insured losses of 2024 demonstrate that, while concerted action is needed to build resilience over time, more severe events are already impacting Canada, demanding a rapid response. Communities across Canada are translating climate risk assessments into tangible actions and implementing projects that reduce their exposures to hazards like flooding, drought and wildfires. The widespread interest in addressing these challenges highlights the readiness of municipalities to act when barriers, such as funding, are removed. Climate adaptation is about more than reducing vulnerability to extreme weather events; it is intimately connected to social equity, justice, and building livable, sustainable communities. Not everyone feels the impacts of climate change equally, and it is incumbent upon adaptation programs to ensure benefits reflect the unique vulnerabilities within communities. Local governments have responded encouragingly to one of the most novel introductions in LLCA: GMF’s willingness to put more money on the table for projects that meaningfully address Reconciliation, anti-racism, equity and inclusion. To support communities in delivering equity-centered project benefits and planning mechanisms, including robust engagement opportunities, GMF is offering a suite of new capacity development opportunities for local governments, both delivered directly and recruiting the expertise of coaches and partner organizations to support communities on its behalf. Closing the funding gap While LLCA represents an important milestone and accompaniment to other programs working to increase resilience to climate change, adapting to current and future climate conditions is a task that outstrips the fiscal capacity of the public sector. Research by FCM and the Insurance Bureau of Canada suggests that $5.3 billion is needed in annual investments at the local government level to prevent the worst consequences of climate change—damages that research by the Canadian Climate Institute suggest could exceed $100 billion in annual losses within the next 30 years. The challenge lies not in the financial case for resilience investment—each dollar invested in climate adaptation can prevent $13-15 in direct and economy-wide damages later on—but in making these investments financially viable. Securing diversified financing sources, from large-scale private lenders to household-level decisions, is key to bridging this gap. To that end, GMF is working with partners in the investment and insurance sectors to determine how to best make use of a $150-million allocation from LLCA funding so municipalities are able to leverage diversified funding sources and find innovative ways to stretch public dollars in addressing climate risk, which currently accounts for over 95 per cent of adaptation funding. Local governments are on the front lines of climate change, and escalating losses make it clear Canada needs to get ahead of a cycle of recovery. Communities depend on local government infrastructure for protection, local government services for emergency response and daily needs, and local government planning to prepare for what lies ahead. Equity-informed, risk-based climate adaptation planning equips local governments to deploy the resilient infrastructure and services essential for building climate-resilient communities. The events of 2024 have underscored the urgent need for coordinated climate resilience planning and action across all levels of government. As the cornerstone of community preparedness and response, local governments are uniquely positioned to lead adaptation efforts. Through initiatives like the Local Leadership for Climate Adaptation, Canada is beginning to align its resources and strategies to confront these challenges head-on. By fostering collaboration, embracing innovative funding approaches, and embedding equity into every project, Canada has an opportunity to not only mitigate the impacts of climate change but also build stronger, more inclusive communities for generations to come. The path forward is clear: investing in climate-ready communities today will pay dividends in the form of safety, equity, and prosperity tomorrow. Dustin Carey is Lead Climate Adaptation, Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Green Municipal Fund. |
