Tip sheet: Start building council momentum for climate adaptation

This tip sheet will help you answer:  

• How do we gain council support for climate adaptation amidst competing priorities?
• How can we draft effective climate adaptation policies with limited staff and funds? 

Getting started

Build council support. 

Having council’s support for climate adaptation means council has acknowledged that climate change will have undesirable impacts on the community and made a commitment to do something about it.  

How do you get council’s support for climate adaptation efforts when they have other priorities or don’t see climate adaptation as one?

Here are some tips to help you get started.

1. Identify council’s level of understanding of climate risks and adaptation.

Determine your council's current understanding of climate risks and appetite for climate adaptation. For example, are they supportive, resistant or overwhelmed? Understanding their perspectives will help you tailor your approach. 

Resources such as Reacclimates Building a Social Mandate for Climate Action—A Playbook for Accelerating Public Engagement and GMF’s Talking it through: Guide for local government staff on climate adaptation may help you identify council’s understanding and perspective.  

Identify what motivates council members and what barriers they face. For example, do they need external funding to support initiatives? Addressing these factors can help build support.  

2. Build council’s understanding of why climate adaptation matters.

With an understanding of how your council currently views climate adaptation, you can begin to build their understanding in a way that resonates with them. At a high level, this is about helping council understand how climate risks impact community priorities. For example:

Community priority	Examples of associated climate impacts
Public health and safety	Heatwaves can have harmful effects on physical health, particularly for vulnerable populations.
Economic stability	Wildfires, particularly when they are near urban areas, can disrupt local economies by damaging infrastructure.
Infrastructure resilience	Flooding can stress or destroy infrastructure.
Environmental quality	Droughts can harm local ecosystems, leading to loss of biodiversity and degradation of natural assets.
Reliable and affordable service delivery	The cost to maintain levels of service when faced with climate hazards will significantly increase if systems and infrastructure are not proactively built to adapt to the hazards.

 

For many municipalities it can be helpful to also communicate the real financial impact of not adapting to climate change. The Canadian Climate Institute’s report series, The Costs of Climate Change, contain key insights you can use in your communication with council. For example:  

• Damage Control: Reducing the costs of climate impacts in Canada reports that for every $1 spent on adaptation measures today, $13-$15 will be returned in direct and indirect benefits in the coming years. Messaging about the financial benefits of being proactive may be effective for council members who lean toward supporting climate adaptation.
• Under Water: The Costs of Climate Change for Canada’s Infrastructure reports that flood damage to homes and buildings could increase from $60 million to $300 million. Messages showing the cost of inaction may resonate with council members who are still weighing the urgency or value of investing in climate adaptation.  

ICLEI’s Cost of Doing Nothing:  A Toolbox for Building a Local Business Case for Adaptation can help you assess the costs of doing nothing in your municipality’s local context. 

Additional support for building council’s understanding can be found at GMF’s Talking it through: Guide for local government staff on climate adaptation. Check out the discussion guide and the customizable PowerPoint template.  

3. Help council understand their role and what they can do.  

Council’s role in climate adaptation is to define desired objectives, set direction through policy and other directives and then to allocate resources for implementation of policy and directives. Staff are responsible for determining the most effective and efficient way to implement council’s direction. Examples of council directives related to climate adaptation include:

• Conduct a climate risk assessment and develop a community climate action plan.
• Enhance and maintain green infrastructure, including natural assets.
• Implement zoning and building codes that improve climate resilience.
• Engage with the public to inform an understanding of impacts and priorities.
• Report on progress and risks annually.
• Assess climate risk for all new capital requests.
• Leverage funding and partnerships.

If you aren’t sure where to start, look at examples from other communities near you to see what has been successful. This can provide inspiration and practical ideas for your council. 

Develop climate adaptation policies. 

Developing effective climate adaptation policies is key to ensuring long-term resilience.

How can we create and implement policies that effectively address the impacts of climate change on our community?

Here are some tips to help you get started.

1. Integrate climate adaptation into existing policies and planning processes.

This approach is about embedding climate adaptation considerations into all aspects of municipal operations. Ideally, you have already done a risk assessment and climate adaptation plan to understand what hazards and impacts you need to adapt to and how to go about making some changes. After that, you are in a good position to review current policies and regulations such as zoning bylaws, building codes and emergency management plans to identify where climate adaptation fits in. For example,

• Zoning regulations can be updated to prevent development in flood-prone areas and encourage the use of green infrastructure.
• Building standards related to heat resilience can be developed for new construction and renovations.
• Emergency preparedness and response plans can be updated to consider anticipated climate changes and their local impacts.  

2. Develop new climate adaptation policies  

If you can’t find ways to integrate climate adaptation into existing policies and programs, creating new ones can help fill gaps. It is a good idea to start this process by setting clear climate adaptation objectives that reflect the context and priorities of your community. Some examples include: 

Policy area	Example of associated objective
Infrastructure	Keep roads, bridges and water systems in good shape to handle extreme weather.
Green spaces	Create more green spaces like parks, gardens and green roofs in urban areas to help manage rainwater and keep the town cooler. Protect important ecosystems, like forests and wetlands, to help them adapt to local climate changes so they can continue to benefit your community.
Involve community	Run programs to help residents understand climate change and what they can do about it. This could be through community events, school activities or simple flyers.
Emergency preparedness	So everyone knows what to do during weather-related emergencies, develop plans for responding to and recovering from extreme events, like floods or heatwaves.

 

Once you have defined objectives for your policy, draft policy statements that provide direction, and outline the required and desired approach to achieving these objectives.  

Explore the Climate Caucus Resources Library for examples of motions, bylaws, council reports and briefing notes for municipal climate initiatives. 

Next steps

Council support and climate adaptation policies are important parts of building the core of your climate adaptation efforts—people, partnerships and governance. For more support to get started on strengthening people, partnerships and governance, explore the following tip sheets:

• Tip sheet: Start resourcing your municipality for climate adaptation
• Tip sheet: Start collaborating on municipal climate adaptation
• Tip sheet: Start involving diverse voices in municipal climate adaptation

Explore the Climate-Ready Communities Assessment Tool for additional insight and support. 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