This article is part of our Strengthening Communities Through Climate Adaptation series. Each piece shares practical ideas and offers real-world strategies to help communities plan, fund and carry out climate adaptation projects that reflect their local priorities.
Smart climate planning, systems changes and project implementation can lower long-term spending, protect budgets, reduce legal risk, enhance service reliability and support job creation. With the right funding and supports, communities can act now while staying within their budgets.
The return on resilience
Across Canada, the financial impacts of extreme weather are growing. A 2024 report from the Insurance Bureau of Canada showed insured damages from extreme weather reached a record $8.5 billion. That figure is triple the losses recorded just one year earlier. Municipalities are carrying much of that burden, especially when local infrastructure isn’t designed to withstand our changing climate.
Investment in climate adaptation is gaining traction as a financial strategy that helps communities stay ahead of these risks.
According to the Canadian Climate Institute, every dollar spent on adaptation can result in a return between $13-15 in avoided future costs. The World Bank also reports that making infrastructure climate-resilient typically adds just 3 percent to project costs. In most cases, that small increase results in long-term savings. Think about the Red River Spillway, for example—how many billions in flooding damages have been avoided because it was built?
Protecting infrastructure and budgets
Municipalities are responsible for about 60 percent of Canada’s core public infrastructure, including roads, bridges, stormwater systems and water treatment facilities. Climate change is already costing municipalities by accelerating infrastructure deterioration. When these systems fail, the costs go well-beyond repairs. Service disruptions, safety risks and increased insurance premiums often follow.
Integrating climate considerations into asset management, development standards or procurement decisions can help reduce risks and prevent those repeated infrastructure failures that drain budgets and delay other priorities.
This means small changes to how you plan or assess risks can make the difference between a cost-effective capital project and a future recovery bill.
Road infrastructure offers a clear case: The Canadian Climate Institute suggests that under a high emissions scenario, national road repair and maintenance costs are anticipated to increase from $1.39B to $7.74B by the end of the century. However, with proactive adaptation, inflation-adjusted costs could be lower than today due to the premature deterioration caused by designing to past conditions.
GMF’s Local Leadership for Climate Adaptation initiative helps communities act strategically by offering funding for planning, feasibility studies, implementation projects, and innovative financing options. These investments don’t just reduce long term costs—they also support local contractors, strengthen internal staff skills and generate economic activity during project delivery.
A smarter way to move forward
Adaptation planning is a way to proactively invest in your services and your community’s long-term economic health. By identifying risks early and building them into your decision-making, you can lower costs and reduce disruptions. And with the funding opportunities available through the Local Leadership for Climate Adaptation, your community can take action that reflects your priorities, capacity and stage of readiness.
Depending on where you are in the process, here’s how LLCA can help:
Just getting started? Use Climate-Ready Plans and Processes to fund climate risk assessments, adaptation plans, or updates to tools like asset management systems. You can also use the Climate-Ready Communities Assessment Tool to understand where your community stands and identify your next steps.
Have a plan and are ready to act? Adaptation in Action offers funding for feasibility studies to test project ideas, or implementation projects funding to carry them out.
Looking to support residents directly? Residential Resilience Financing can help you design local financing programs for climate-resilient home upgrades.
See what support is available. GMF’s Local Leadership for Climate Adaptation initiative can help your community plan ahead with purpose.
Explore more from this series:
- Nature is community infrastructure
- Climate adaptation: You might be closer than you think
- How to make climate adaptation funding go further