Climate Resilient Burlington

The City of Burlington has been recognized by CDP, the global environmental non-profit, for its leadership in transparency and action, securing a place on CDP’s respected ‘A’ List.

CDP operates the world’s only independent environmental disclosure system, with over 1,000 cities, states and regions reporting environmental data through CDP in 2025. Achieving an ‘A’ places Burlington among the leaders demonstrating comprehensive disclosure and meaningful progress towards environmental resilience. Burlington is one of seven cities in Canada and one of two in Ontario to receive an ‘A’ score in 2025.

To achieve an ‘A’ score, a city must meet a series of robust leadership criteria. This includes publicly disclosing environmental data through the CDP-ICLEI Track platform, maintaining a comprehensive city-wide emissions inventory, and publishing a credible climate action plan. Cities must also complete a full climate risk and vulnerability assessment and set a clear climate adaptation goal that outlines how they will address current and future climate hazards.

Many cities on the A List demonstrate additional leadership through actions such as securing formal political commitment from the mayor to advance climate ambition and deliver resilient, low-carbon development.

For more information check out our Take Action Burlington blog post: Burlington Achieves CDP ‘A’ Score for Environmental Reporting

Climate Resilient Burlington: A Plan for Adapting to Our Warmer, Wetter and Wilder Weather was adopted by City Council in 2022. Progress reports are prepared annually.

Climate Resilient Burlington (CRB): A Plan for Adapting to Our Warmer, Wetter and Wilder Weather Progress Report. February 20, 2026 Staff Report

• Appendix A: Climate Resilient Burlington Year 4 Progress Update – Status Snapshot
• Appendix B: CRB Year 4 Progress Update on 32 Actions and KPIs
• Appendix C: CRB Year 4 Progress Update – Funding Sources

Climate Resilient Burlington: A Plan for Adapting to Our Warmer, Wetter and Wilder Weather was adopted by City Council in 2022. Progress reports are prepared annually.

Climate Resilient Burlington (CRB): A Plan for Adapting to Our Warmer, Wetter and Wilder Weather Progress Report. May 30, 2025 Staff Report

• Appendix A: CRB Year 3 Progress Report on 32 Actions
• Appendix B: CRB Year 3 Progress Report on Key Performance Indicators
• Appendix C: CRB Year 3 Progress Report on Expenditures Associated With Initiatives Completed in 2024

In May 2025, the City of Burlington was recognized twice in relation to our environmental sustainability portfolio:

• Finalist for the Burlington Chamber of Commerce’s 2025 Business Excellence Awards in the Environmental Impact Category
• Named to the Carbon Disclosure Project’s (CDP’s) 2024 Cities A List

The Climate Resilient Burlington: a plan for adapting to our warmer, wetter and wilder weather annual progress report (EICS-05-24) and appendix A & B are now available to read. This report is going to the Committee of the Whole meeting on May 13, 2024.

Requests to delegate to this hybrid meeting can be made by completing the online delegation registration form at www.burlington.ca/delegate, by noon the business day before the meeting is to be held.

Taking Action on Climate Change

Our climate is changing. It's not just about polar bears and melting ice caps; it's about our homes, our communities, and our future.

We all need to ‘Take Action Burlington’ to:

• Reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, and
• Take steps to adapt to our warmer, wetter and wilder weather.

Small actions can lead to big impacts. Whether it's reducing single-use plastics, making the switch to active and sustainable modes of transportation, replacing your gas or diesel vehicle with an electric vehicle, replacing your furnace with an air source heat pump, naturalizing your garden to attract pollinators, taking steps to reduce your risk of flooding, or advocating for sustainable, climate friendly policies – every effort counts!

In 2019, Burlington City Council declared a climate emergency to deepen our commitment to protecting our economy, environment and community from climate change and apply a climate lens to our plans and actions.

Through our corporate and community plans, we are working towards carbon neutrality while also adapting to climate change.

Some of our actions include:

• Planning for City buildings and vehicles to be low or zero carbon,
• Increasing renewable energy on municipal property,
• Supporting active and sustainable transportation,
• Growing our tree canopy,
• Protecting our greenspace, and
• Reducing our flood risk.

Check out our video and stay tuned for future Take Action Burlington posts and videos on how we can all take action to reduce our climate impact and prepare for our warmer, wetter and wilder weather.

Climate Resilient Progress Report going to the Environment, Infrastructure and Community Services Committee on June 28, 2023.

Standing committee and City Council meetings are held using a hybrid model, allowing members of Council, city staff and the public the option of participating remotely or in-person at city hall, 426 Brant St. Requests to delegate to this hybrid meeting can be made by completing the online delegation registration form at www.burlington.ca/delegate, by submitting a written request by email to the Office of the City Clerk at clerks@burlington.ca or by phoning 905-335-7600, ext. 7481 by noon the business day before the meeting is to be held.

Please enjoy the recording of the webinar Burlington Sustainable Advisory Committee hosted on March 30 called 'Manage rain where it falls'

To enable the closed captioning, hover over the video and select the CC icon.

Our climate is changing, and we are experiencing warmer, wetter and wilder weather. There are things we can do to better prepare ourselves for unpredictable rainstorms and risk of flooding to increase our resiliency.

Join Sasha Benevides, Community Outreach Coordinator, Conservation Halton to learn about how nature-based solutions, also known as Low Impact Development (LID), can help. Sasha will highlight how you can work with nature to manage rain on your property through rain barrels, rain gardens, native plants, downspout disconnection, permeable pavement and more.

The City of Burlington is pleased to announce it has received an A grade for climate action efforts from the Climate Disclosure Project (CDP). This is the second year the City has reported on its climate action efforts to the CDP organization. The City received a B rating last year when it first started reporting. CDP is a non-profit charity and provides a global disclosure climate action reporting platform for companies and all levels of government. Burlington is one of 122 municipalities around the world to achieve an A grade, out of over 1,000 who participated in reporting this year.

The City submitted progress updates on the implementation of its climate related plans, including the community-based Climate Action Plan, the Corporate Energy and Emissions Management Plan (for City operations) and the recently completed Climate Resilient Burlington – A Plan for Adapting to Our Warmer, Wetter and Wilder Weather. CDP is recognizing the City for its reporting and efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to a changing climate.

A List cities and counties are demonstrating climate leadership through collective action, just as national governments have been asked to at COP27. Council and City staff are happy to achieve the high rating on our second year of reporting, however, action on climate change is more urgent than ever to become a low carbon resilient community.

Reporting through the CDP platform helps the City to meet its reporting requirements for the Global Covenant of Mayors (GCoM), the largest global alliance for city climate leadership across the globe.