associated with the development of the first Heat Alert and Response plan (Project ID: 7093001). This project has also funded the early years of the Stay Cool Windsor-Essex Campaign (now implemented by Windsor Essex County Health Unit), the various Thermal Comfort reports and some minor initiatives to improve thermal comfort. The funds for this capital project were received from Health Canada through various Memorandums of Understanding from 2009 through 2016 totalling $279,500. There is currently approximately $32,000 remaining to continue this work.
The second capital project was established in 2015 for the completion the Corporate and Community Climate Change Mitigation Plan (Project ID 7159001). Funding for this project was initially from the City of Windsor funding $150,000 towards the plan development. Administration was subsequently successful in receiving grant funding from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities ($148,300) and the Ontario Ministry of Energy ($90,000). A surplus was remaining following the completion of the plan.
To show an ongoing commitment to the CEP, City Council approved an additional $40,000 in funding for the Corporate and Community Climate Change Mitigation Plan, for total City funding in this project $190,000. This increase was to supplement the surplus funds identified following the completion of the plan and were to be used to undertake a few key short-term initiatives including; public education, detailed energy mapping, the Deep Energy Efficiency Retrofit (DEER) business case and a study for expansion of District Energy. These funds were intended to be used to leverage additional funding opportunities through FCM’s Municipal Climate Innovation Program (MCIP). The City of Windsor was successful in receiving funding of $125,000 through this program to support the development of the business case for the DEER. Upon completion of the DEER business case, it is expected that a surplus of approximately $90,000 will remain.
Due to oversubscription of the FCM MCIP grants, the City of Windsor pulled the District Energy application to prioritize the applications for the Active Transportation Master Plan, the East Riverside Flood Risk Study and the Integrated Site Energy Study for the Lou Romano and Little River plants. The City of Windsor was successful in receiving MCIP grants for those projects.
Risk Analysis:
Reputational Risk - Globally and locally, Climate Change awareness is rapidly rising. There is a reputational risk to the city if action on climate change is not seen as progressing.
Financial Risk – Both the Community Energy Plan and the Climate Change Adaptation Plan outline the financial risk to the Community from not taking action on Climate Change. These include escalating energy and carbon costs as well as the possible losses from climate change impacts (ex. basement flooding). Climate change actions may increase the cost of projects and add expenditures to other initiatives. Given the limited resources available, this may result in the reprioritization of future, planned projects or the requirement to identify new funding sources to fund such initiatives.