• Improving our understanding of how climate change will impact Ontario:

  • Undertaking a provincial impact assessment to identify the potential impacts to communities, critical infrastructure, economies and natural environment, guiding future decision making.

  • Undertaking impact and vulnerability assessments for key sectors

• Help Ontarians understand the impacts of climate change:

  • Make practical climate change information available for all

  • Identify and create adaptation solutions.

  • Support communities by demonstration how climate science can be applied in decision-making.

• Update government policies and build partnerships to improve local climate resilience:

  • Modernize building code

  • Review the Municipal Disaster Recovery Assistance Program

  • Consult on tax policy

  • Review land use planning policies

  • Build resilience in the province’s critical infrastructure

  • Support improvements to existing winter roads

  • Continue to support programs and partnerships intended to make the agriculture and food sectors more resilient to current and future climate impacts

Included in the update announced on November 28, 2019, the province listed some of the following progress toward those targets:

• Consulted on proposed changes to the Provincial Policy Statement, which sets out the province’s policies for how land is used and developed in Ontario, including proposed changes to build resilience and support municipalities in preparing for the impacts of a changing climate.

• Named a Special Advisor on flooding who has delivered his report on ways that all levels of government, and individuals, can make Ontario more resilient to flooding.

• Released a request for bids for a third-party expert to undertake the first-ever broad, multi-sector provincial climate change impact assessment to identify where the province is vulnerable to climate change and help decision-makers better understand the impacts so they can protect communities and the environment.

Government of Canada

Over the past two decades, Canada has produced three broad, national climate change assessments, one in 1997, one in 2008, and the most recent in 2014, as well as sector-or region-specific assessments on human health, transportation, and marine coasts. These reports communicated to Canadians the risks and opportunities climate change presents and focused on assessing our readiness to adapt to potential impacts.