Tip sheet: Start assessing your local climate risks

This tip sheet will help you answer:

• How do we develop competencies required to complete climate risk assessments?
• How do we assess the risk of climate impacts we have identified? And how do we do so in a way that is informed by Reconciliation and anti-racism, equity and inclusion (AREI)?

Getting started

Develop your capacity to assess local climate risks.

This involves enhancing your organization’s skills, knowledge, experience and tools to analyze and evaluate climate impacts.

How can you develop the skills, knowledge, experience and tools needed to assess local climate risks?

Here are some tips to help you get started.

Addressing climate change requires diverse tools and people with skills, knowledge and experience from various disciplines, backgrounds and educations. You likely have people within your organization who have relevant competencies (for example, those identified in Tip sheet: Start preparing for climate risk assessment and adaptation plan.) Where you have gaps in competencies, there are some steps you can take to address them.

Here is an overview of skills, knowledge, experience and tools that are relevant to analyzing and evaluating local climate risks and some actions you can take to fill gaps you may have: 
 

Skills and knowledge

Skill and knowledge category	Description of skill and knowledge
Community context	your community’s specific needs, values and concerns
Basic climate science literacy	the causes and impacts of climate change, the science behind climate information and how climate trends influence hazards
Indigenous knowledges	the historical and current practices, processes, protocols and experiences of local and regional First Nations, Métis, Inuit and urban Indigenous Peoples communities and organizations
Risk assessment techniques	how to identify, analyze and evaluate risks, including understanding probabilities and consequences
Information management	how to collect, manage and interpret climate data
Communications and engagement	how to work with and involve local and regional First Nations, Métis, Inuit and urban Indigenous Peoples communities and organizations as well as other jurisdictions, institutions, organizations, communities of practice and/or stakeholders how to work with equity-deserving communities in Canada
Institutional knowledge	Lessons learned and other reflections from past projects and initiatives.

Here are some ways to fill skills and knowledge gaps: 
•    Identify organizations in your region who are doing climate work and may be able to support you. These could include, for example, universities or non-profit organizations.
•    Attend workshops on climate science fundamentals and other climate resilience training opportunities such as those listed on the Green Municipal Fund’s page Climate resilience training from GMF Partners. 
•    Purchase or acquire access to tools such as ICLEI’s Building Adaptive and Resilience Communities (BARC) Online Tool.  
Tip: The Canadian Centre for Climate Services hosts a Library of climate resources. 
•    Identify and reach out to representatives of different community groups to participate in their processes. 
•    Hire qualified consultants.
•    Apply for government funding to support capacity-building initiatives.

Experience

Category of experience	Description of experience
Organizational experience	working with your organization’s processes, procedures, infrastructure systems and services
Previous climate or related projects	contributing to similar projects that can provide practical insight
Cross-departmental collaboration	working on initiatives with different municipal departments
Relationship building	developing meaningful and trusting relationships with community members

Some examples of activities to fill experience gaps include: 
•    Pair less experienced staff with long-term employees to share institutional knowledge and lessons learned.
•    Conduct an organization-wide survey to see who already considers climate change in their work and in what ways.
•    Work with universities to develop co-op work experience programs.
•    Partner with non-governmental organizations.
 

Browse the Green Municipal Fund’s website for a comprehensive list of reports, guides, case studies, templates and more to help fill gaps in skills, knowledge and experience.

Assess climate risks across your community.

Use the skills, knowledge and experience you have to effectively assess climate risks in a way that accounts for the varied impacts of climate change on different people and areas within your community.

Without prior experience, how can we assess local climate risks?

Here are some tips to help you get started.

1. Use a framework that meets your needs.

There are many resources that include risk assessment frameworks useful for climate risk assessments and adaptation planning. These include, for example: 
•    ICLEI’s Changing Climate, Changing Communities: Guide and Workbook for Municipal Climate Adaptation and C40 Cities’ Climate Change Risk Assessment Guidance are useful if you are planning a  community-wide assessment on various services and sectors. 
•    Public Infrastructure Engineering Vulnerability Committee (PIEVC)’s Large Portfolio Assessment Manual can be used if you are focusing your assessment on impacts to infrastructure assets.

2. Familiarize yourself with the foundations of a climate risk assessment. 

Regardless of the framework you choose, there are foundational concepts that underpin the climate risk assessment process. Climate risk, as defined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), is the “potential for adverse consequences.” It is a function of three things: the likelihood of a climate-related event (a climate hazard) occurring, the vulnerability of the systems it affects and the potential impacts of the event. To conduct a climate risk assessment, you need to consider the following:

 

Identify a local climate hazard.

Common questions to answer:	For example:
What climate hazards has my community faced? What climate hazards does/will my community face?	Those you identified in Tip sheet: Start preparing for climate risk assessment and adaptation plan.

 

Estimate the likelihood of an event related to that climate hazard.

Common questions to answer:	For example:
How often has this climate hazard occurred historically? What do climate models predict about the future frequency and intensity of this hazard?	Likelihood scores as outlined in the ICLEI Changing Climate, Changing Community: Guide and Workbook for Municipal Climate Adaptation Worksheet 8 Risk Assessment

 

Assess your community’s vulnerability to the climate-related event.

Common questions to answer:

For example:

How able is our community to adjust to changes, minimize damage, take advantage of opportunities and cope with the effects of climate change? Are there people, livelihoods, species, ecosystems, infrastructure or cultural assets in our community that could be negatively impacted by climate change? Which areas and populations in our community are most vulnerable to this hazard? What factors contribute to their vulnerability (e.g., socio-economic status, infrastructure quality, health conditions)?

Vulnerability ratings outlined in the ICLEI Changing Climate, Changing Community: Guide and Workbook for Municipal Climate Adaptation Worksheet 7 Vulnerability Assessment

 

Determine the potential impacts of the climate-related event.

Common questions to answer:	For example:
What are the potential consequences of this climate hazard on the components within the scale of our climate risk assessment?	Those you identified in Tip sheet: Start identifying local climate impacts.

Next steps

Once you have assessed local climate risks, you will be in a good position to start developing your climate adaptation plan. For support on getting started with this next phase of work, read Tip sheet: Start climate adaptation planning.

Explore the Climate-Ready Communities Assessment Tool for additional insight and support in analyzing and evaluating local climate risks. You can use the tool to evaluate your existing climate adaptation efforts, pinpoint areas for improvement and chart a clear plan for strengthening your community’s adaptation efforts.