Climate change poses "complex, long-term threat" to Canada – report

“There will be no single moment where this threat will crystallize and reveal itself, for it is already underway and will incrementally build across decades to come,” the CSIS report said.

Rising sea levels could cause irretrievable loss of infrastructure and even entire communities along Canada’s coastlines, according to CSIS, which pointed to recent modelling that indicates “the potential loss of significant parts of British Columbia and the Atlantic provinces.”

The agency also warned that taking steps to lessen the severity of flood and weather risks may be impractical, and that buying insurance or rebuilding after a calamity may simply be too expensive in some cases.

A January release from the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) revealed that the country experienced $3.1 billion in insured damages due to severe weather in 2022, the third worst year on record.

Last week, IBC president and CEO Celyeste Power called for the government to fund a national high-risk flood insurance program, stating that Canada has become a “riskier and more dangerous place to live” as a result of the increasing frequency and intensity of natural catastrophes caused by climate change.

Other findings from CSIS’ climate change report

Other key findings from the CSIS report include the increased risk of animal-borne diseases, loss of arable land and shrinking freshwater resources as a result of climate change.

The report also predicted the unprecedented growth of human migration due to newly uninhabitable territory, extreme weather events, drought, and food shortages, leading to a growing demand for mass relocation.

The shift toward renewable or more efficient energy sources will likely have national economic implications against a broader backdrop of global dynamics, CSIS said further, noting that “the range of polarizing narratives regarding both government solutions and the pace of their implementation is dramatically increasing.”

Overall, CSIS warned that climate change could undermine global critical infrastructure, threaten health and safety, create new scarcity and spark global competition, and might open the door to regional or international conflicts.

“Put simply, climate change compounds all other known human security issues and serves as an accelerant towards negative security outcomes,” the report said. “No country will be immune from climate change or associated risks.”