National coalition urges immediate attention to climate change file

Climate Proof Canada, which includes Canada’s national insurer and broker associations, has urged the federal government to boost construction of climate change-resilient housing and infrastructure and to invest more than $5.3 billion of ‘surge funding’ annually into the Disaster Mitigation Adaptation Fund (DMAF) over the next five years.

These are among 16 different recommendations arising from the second annual National Climate Adaptation Summit Day held in Ottawa yesterday.

“The cost of inaction is too high,” Climate Proof Canada says in a release of its detailed recommendations, noting natural catastrophe losses have trended from $701 million annually between 2001-10, to just over $3 billion as of 2024. This year, Canadian property and casualty insurers are projecting claims payments related to natural catastrophes will total more than $7.7 million.

“After the most-destructive season in Canadian history for insured losses due to severe weather, it has never been more urgent to make our communities more resilient to climate change,” says Climate Proof Canada Chairman Jason Clark. “We need an all-of-society effort to protect our families, homes and businesses, but leadership must come from the federal government by investing at least $5.3 billion annually in the National Adaptation Strategy over the next five years.”

Climate Proof Canada is a national coalition of Canadian business representatives, including the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), the Insurance Brokers Association of Canada (IBAC), and 13 individual P&C insurance companies or brokerages (many of which are among Canada’s largest by market share). The group also has reps from disaster relief organizations, municipalities, Indigenous organizations, environmental NGOs, and think tanks. The group’s recommendations come on four key areas, including Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities, Enhancing Disaster Resilience, Enhancing First Nations and Metis Resilience, and Improved Health and Well-Being.

Some of its recommendations will not be new to the property and casualty insurance industry, especially calls for a whole of society approach to building resilience, and more funding for mapping floods, wildfires and other high-risk zones for natural catastrophes.

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But the group is bringing prominence to the discussion about where to build future developments. Its first recommendation for building climate resilient infrastructure, for example, is to steer clear of risk-exposed areas.

“Avoid investing in new housing developments or infrastructure programs that build new homes in high-risk flood and wildfire areas,” the coalition recommends. “Canada’s Housing Plan must align with the National Adaptation Strategy (NAS) to factor resilience into all federal housing, building codes, retrofit and infrastructure programs to deliver 3.87 million new homes the country desperately requires.

“New investments should not pose significant risk to new or existing communities, as well as individual health and well-being. “

The group notes NAS targets include incorporating climate change resilience measures into the National Building Code, the Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code and the Canadian Electrical Code by 2026. Also, by 2028, the federal, provincial and territorial governments are expected to have worked collaboratively to prioritize 200 higher-risk areas for new hazards, regional level modelling, and take risk-mitigation measures in these areas.

The group also calls on governments to prioritize infrastructure investments in high-risk communities.

In particular, the feds should commit to “provide surge funding for the Disaster Mitigation Adaptation Fund (DMAF) of $2 billion in the first year and at least $1 billion per year for 10 years thereafter, with investments prioritizing allocation to high-risk zones and municipalities.”