Tip sheet: Start preparing for climate risk assessment and adaptation plan

This tip sheet will help you answer:  

• What should I include in the scope for my climate risk assessment?
• What information do I need and where can I find it?
• How do I find the people with the right skills to take on this work?
• What resources will help me do this work? 

Getting started 

Define the scope of your work.

How can you figure out the right scope for your climate risk assessment to make sure it fits your community's needs and addresses the most important areas? 

This involves tailoring your approach to your community’s unique context and priorities by outlining:

• your community’s needs and objectives -> Why are you undertaking this climate risk assessment and adaptation planning work?
• the climate hazards and scale of your work -> What will you be assessing and planning for?
• the approach you will use to assess risks -> How will you go about it?

Here are some tips to help you get started. 

1. Clarify your community’s need(s) and objective(s).

Climate risk assessments and adaptation plans are not one-size-fits-all. Clearly defining your community’s needs and objectives helps ensure a more focused, effective and well-supported process. 

Reflect on these questions	Example responses
Why are you undertaking the climate risk assessment and adaptation planning work?	Our community is experiencing increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events. We want to ensure the long-term sustainability of our local economy and natural resources. We have to comply with regional, provincial/territorial and/or national climate policies and regulations.
What objectives does your municipality aim to achieve by developing and implementing your adaptation plan?	We want to reduce the vulnerability of our community’s critical infrastructure (e.g., facilities, structures and assets critical to community function) to climate impacts. We want to enhance public awareness and preparedness for climate-related risks. We want to integrate climate resilience into all municipal planning and decision-making processes.
What decisions do you want to inform? What outcomes are you seeking from this process?	We are aiming for improved community resilience to climate change. We hope to identify capital projects or operational activities to manage climate impacts, so we can update our capital plan and financial plans. We want increased collaboration and engagement with local stakeholders and residents on climate initiatives. We plan to develop actionable strategies and projects that address identified climate risks.

 

2. Identify what climate changes are affecting your community.

Are you aware of any climate changes that your community is facing now or that may be a concern in the future? These might include any of the following:

• wildfire
• extreme rainfall
• extreme heat
• extreme wind
• drought
• sea level rise and storm surge
• permafrost degradation
• erosion
• other

3. Choose the scale of the climate risk assessment.

In addition to identifying the climate hazards to include in your risk assessment and adaptation plan, the scale of your climate risk assessment refers to the extent of the physical boundaries, service areas and/or thematic considerations you will include. For example, you might set a:

• physical boundary: This refers to the geographic area covered by the assessment, such as the municipal boundary or specific neighbourhoods within the municipality.
• service boundary: This involves focusing on specific municipal services or departments, such as corporate services, culture and tourism, fire services or environmental services.
• asset boundary: This involves focusing on specific physical assets within the municipality that are critical to its functioning.
• hazard boundary: This means focusing on specific climate hazards that your community is currently or has experienced, such as wildfires or flooding.
• thematic boundary: This refers to different themes or areas of focus, such as the environment, public health, infrastructure or the local economy.  

A community-wide assessment covering multiple areas, services, assets and themes provides the most comprehensive understanding of local climate risks. However, the scale of the risk assessment can vary between municipalities, depending on factors such as available resources, capacities, constraints and the purposes or goals of the risk assessment and adaptation plan. When choosing the scale for your climate risk assessment, consider:  

• broader scale: For example, this would include all municipal assets and services as well as areas such as local economy and public health. A broader scale can provide a comprehensive understanding of the community-wide impacts of climate hazards, but it requires more effort and resources to go beyond a high-level scan.  
• narrower scale: For example, this would include considerations only for a single asset or service area. A narrower scale can help you be more detailed but may miss broader climate vulnerabilities in your community.  
• combination: For example, you could start with a high-level, community-wide assessment and follow with more detailed assessments for high-risk areas.

Further guidance on choosing the scale of your climate risk assessment can be found in:  

• A Community Climate Adaptation Planning Guide, part of the Climate Resilience Express Project of the All One Sky Foundation. In particular, see Step 1 Get started: determine the scope of the planning process.  
• ICLEI’s Changing Climate, Changing Community: Guide and Workbook for Municipal Climate Adaptation. In particular, see Exhibit 1 Approaches to Climate Change Adaptation Planning found at page 5 in the Guide, and also see Worksheet 6(b) Refining Impacts and Identifying Service Areas at page 14 of the Workbook.

4. Consider how you will define and measure the risks.

Your approach to the climate risk assessment should make sense for your municipality and the decisions you’re trying to inform. Consider whether you will take a top-down or bottom-up approach.

• top-down: Should your assessment be led by a small group of experts or consultants who gather and analyze community data? This method is the quicker and less complex option but could miss valuable insights from diverse perspectives, increasing the risk of overlooking certain impacts or community needs.
• bottom-up: Should you involve many people, including community members and stakeholders, in developing the assessment? This approach takes more time and effort but helps to gather diverse input and can build trust with community members and stakeholders who can help with implementation.

Does your municipality already have an approach to assessing risks? For example, has your community evaluated the risk of infrastructure failure through an asset management risk assessment? There may be opportunities to incorporate climate risks into your existing approaches. If not, there are many existing risk assessment frameworks and resources detailing the process. See Tip sheet: Start assessing your local climate risks for further details. 

 Gather relevant and trustworthy climate change information.  

This is about identifying and gathering the data you need to understand local climate change and its impacts on your community.  

When you’re new to the topic of climate change, how can you collect the information you need?  

Finding sources of information that are trustworthy and relevant to your community can be difficult, especially if staff have limited expertise related to the topic. Here are some tips to help you get started.

1. Consider what types of information will be used in your climate risk assessment and adaptation planning.

For guidance on selecting the types of information to include in your climate risk assessment and adaptation plan, refer to Tip sheet: Start identifying local climate impacts.

2. Take stock of what information you already have.

Not all climate information comes from resources specifically related to climate change. For example:  

• Climate projects may already be identified in your asset management plan.
• Most at-risk infrastructure may already be identified in your asset inventory.
• Your municipality’s official plan may have insights into natural hazards.
• Service requests can inform you about asset damage effects.

Neighbouring jurisdictions may have also already done climate work that you can draw on. For example, there may be a regional or district climate action plan other municipalities can pull from.

Additionally, climate information is not the only type that matters in a climate risk assessment and adaptation plan. For example, socioeconomic and organizational data are also important. You might find this useful information in community plans or initiatives. For example:

• Your housing needs report may highlight vulnerable areas due to housing issues.
• Insurers often have information on the impacts of damaging events.

3. Identify credible sources of climate information.

Identifying credible sources of climate information involves considering who published it, when it was published and last updated, and where it is relevant.  

Who	reputable organizations: Look for data published by respected organizations. For example, the Climate Atlas of Canada is an interactive tool developed by the Prairie Climate Centre and designed to help you learn about climate change and explore its impact on communities. academic institutions: Data from universities and research institutions is often peer-reviewed. government agencies: Data from national, provincial and regional government agencies is credible. For example, ClimateData.ca is an online climate data portal developed by a group of government, academic and research organizations.   local expertise: Rely on insights from local sources, including local and regional First Nations, Métis, Inuit and urban Indigenous Peoples communities and organizations, as well as other local jurisdictions, institutions, organizations, communities of practice and/or stakeholders. transparency: Use sources that are open about their approach to collecting and analyzing data.
When	recent: Data should be current to reflect the latest observations and projections. regular updates: Sources that are regularly updated remain relevant and accurate over time.
Where	geographic specificity: Ensure the data is specific to your location or region. Data that is too broad (e.g., national or international) may not accurately reflect local conditions and vulnerabilities. localized studies: Look for sources that provide localized studies or allow you to set your location to access tailored data.

 

For additional sources of regional climate data, refer to the “Library of climate resources” from the Canadian Centre for Climate Services. 

Bring together the needed knowledge, skills and experience.

This is about finding people within and outside your organization who can contribute to climate risk assessment and adaptation planning.  

When it seems like you need so many perspectives, how can you identify and bring together the right mix of skills, knowledge and experience to complete a climate risk assessment?

Here are some ideas on how to get started.

1. Consider who might have the skills, knowledge, and experience you need.  

Start by finding those within your organization who have relevant skills, knowledge and experience. The GMF Guide: Municipal climate change staff has a comprehensive summary of departments or staff roles and the type of support or resources they might offer.  

You can also find valuable skills, knowledge and experience from those outside of your organization, such as:

• qualified consultants for specialized skills
• academic institutions for expertise and resources
• community organizations (NGOs, community groups) for local climate information
• government services like the Climate Help Desk from Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada

Identify which stakeholders will need to be involved and how you will involve them. In many cases, the success of your engagement will depend on established relationships, for example, with local and regional First Nations, Métis, Inuit and urban Indigenous Peoples communities and organizations.

Community members have valuable and unique expertise from their lived experiences of climate change. This includes youth, the elderly, people with disabilities, people of colour, Indigenous individuals and others. Listening to and amplifying their voices is a critical part of making your climate risk assessment and adaptation planning inclusive and representative of your community. Additional resources on undertaking engagement that is informed by Reconciliation and anti-racism, equity and inclusion are outlined in Tip sheet: Start identifying local climate impacts and Tip sheet: Start climate adaptation planning.

2. Build your climate adaptation team.

Once you have identified individuals within and outside your organization who can support your climate risk assessment and adaptation planning, it can be helpful to bring these people together as a team dedicated to climate adaptation efforts. For example, you can:  

• Identify a team leader: choose someone to coordinate the team’s efforts and keep things organized.
• Define a purpose: clearly outline what the team aims to achieve in your community.  
• Schedule regular check-ins: set up regular meetings, even if they are informal, to discuss progress and next steps.  
• Outline roles and responsibilities: make sure everyone knows their role in the team and what their responsibilities are.  

Additional resources on building your climate adaptation team can be found in the Public Infrastructure Engineering Vulnerability Committee’s (PIEVC) Large Portfolio Assessment Manual (LPAM) and High-Level Screening Guide (HLSG). 

Next steps

Once you have prepared for your climate risk assessment and adaptation plan — with a clear scope, an understanding of the data you need and the skills in place to take it on — you will be in a good position to identify local climate impacts. For support on getting started on this next phase of work, read Tip sheet: Start identifying local climate impacts.

Explore the Climate-Ready Communities Assessment Tool for additional insight and support in preparing for climate risk assessment and adaptation planning. 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.

Note: Several of the approaches referenced in this tip sheet are from “Guidance on Good Practices in Climate Change Risk Assessment” (Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment, 2021).