Climate Resilient Burlington

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.

Burlington City Council has approved Climate Resilient Burlington: A Plan for Adapting to Our Warmer, Wetter and Wilder Weather. This plan identifies Burlington’s risks and vulnerabilities from climate change and is directly related to 2018-2022 Burlington’s Plan: From Vision to Focus.

About the Climate Resilient Burlington plan

The purpose of the Climate Resilient Burlington (CRB) plan is to identify actions to manage the highest risks of warmer, wetter and wilder weather. While the CRB plan considers Burlington’s climate projections to the years 2051-2080 under a high emissions scenario, the plan outlines 32 actions under five themes focusing on building resilience and preparing for a changing climate over the next 10 years. Although this is Burlington’s first climate adaptation plan, work is not starting from scratch, but rather building on initiatives already underway.

The CRB plan was developed with City staff and community stakeholders representing 12 City departments and 17 community organizations. The community was also engaged throughout the process through a number of measures including a dedicated project page, a public project launch and surveys.

CRB Themes and Goals

Theme 1: Resilient Built and Natural Infrastructure
Goal: Manage infrastructure to prepare for future climate conditions and carbon neutral goals
Goal: Enhance resilience of infrastructure exposed to high flood risk
Goal: Invest in proactive measures to prepare for increased extreme events to avoid post-storm reactive costs

Theme 2: Thriving Natural Environment
Goal: Reduce damage to trees while increasing the value of the services they provide
Goal: Value, conserve and enhance the multiple services that natural areas provide

Theme 3: Extreme Heat and Health
Goal: Provide City services to support the community during extreme heat events

Theme 4: Disaster Resilience
Goal: Build capacity in the community to prepare for and respond to more extreme events and long-term climate stresses
Goal: Encourage climate adaptation actions from citizens and businesses

Theme 5: Strong and Resilient Economy
Goal: Support agricultural community in preparing for climate change
Goal: Support and develop resilient local supply chains to help withstand impacts associated with extreme climate events outside of Burlington

Projects with links to climate actions underway

There are several climate actions already underway through various City departments and projects. Each item listed has a direct link to reducing risk, reducing emissions or preparing for climate change effects.

• Alert Burlington – Community Notification System
• Cooling and Warming Centres in partnership with Burlington Public Library
• Home Flood Protection Assessment Program
• Plumbing Permit Fee Grant Program
• Stormwater infrastructure improvements such as larger creek culverts and creek channel improvements
• Burlington Stormwater Management Design Guidelines
• Urban Forest Master Plan
• Municipal Natural Assets Initiative – Grindstone Creek Watershed Project
• Spencer Smith Park and Beachway stabilization and wave breaks
• Asset Management Plan
• Climate Action Plan (focusing on reducing community emissions)
• Corporate Energy and Emissions Management Plan
• City View Park pavilion and solar installation
• Anti-idling campaign and bylaw
• Expansion of the City’s electric vehicle charging stations
• Electric Mobility Strategy
• Corporate Green Fleet Strategy
• Integrated Mobility Plan (focusing on active and public transportation)
• Rural Active Transportation Strategy
• Cycling Plan, a component of the Integrated Mobility Plan, which includes projects such as the Plains Road bikeway improvements
• Major Transit Station Areas (MTSA)
• Other projects

Burlington’s first plan on climate adaptation called Climate Resilient Burlington: A Plan for Adapting to Our Warmer, Wetter and Wilder Weather will be considered at the Environment, Infrastructure and Community Services (EICS) committee meeting on July 7, 2022. The plan was first presented as a draft to the EICS committee on May 5, 2022.

Background

The purpose of the Climate Resilient Burlington (CRB) plan is to identify actions to manage the highest risks of warmer, wetter and wilder weather. While the CRB plan considers Burlington’s climate projections to the years 2051-2080 under a high emissions scenario, the plan outlines 32 actions under five themes focusing on building resilience and preparing for a changing climate over the next 10 years. Although this is Burlington’s first climate adaptation plan, work is not starting from scratch, but rather building on initiatives already underway.

Plan Development

The CRB plan was developed with City staff and community stakeholders representing 12 City departments and 17 community organizations. The community was also engaged throughout the process through a number of measures including a dedicated project page, a public project launch and surveys.

A more detailed follow-up post will be published should City Council approve the plan on July 12, 2022.

Climate Resilient Burlington (CRB): A Plan for Adapting to Our Warmer, Wetter and Wilder Weather identifies actions to manage the highest risks of warmer, wetter and wilder weather. While the CRB plan considers Burlington’s climate projections to the years 2051-2080 under a high emissions scenario, the plan outlines actions to focus on over the next 10 years to build resilience and prepare for a changing climate. It should be noted that many of the actions are building on work already underway and referred to in the plan under ‘related initiatives.’

The CRB plan was developed using a bottom-up approach with 49 City staff and community stakeholders representing 12 City departments and 17 community organizations through 15 workshops between September 2021 and January 2022 as well as additional follow-up. The community was also engaged through a dedicated CRB page on the Get Involved Burlington portal, a survey on the vision and principles of the CRB, and a public launch in October 2021.

The draft CRB plan is now available and will be presented to the Environment, Infrastructure and Community Services (EICS) Committee on May 5, 2022. If you would like to speak to City Council about the staff report and plan, you may register to delegate.

Please consider providing your feedback through the current surveys which are divided into two sections:

1. City of Burlington Actions: 32 actions listed within five themes (one survey per theme)
2. Citizen Action Checklists and proposed future Community Climate Resilience Education Program (one survey)

You can choose to respond to one or more surveys, which are open until May 8 at 11:59 p.m.

The final CRB plan will be presented to the EICS Committee in July 2022.

The City of Burlington is pleased to announce it has received a B grade for climate action efforts from the Climate Disclosure Project (CDP). This is the first time the City has received a grade. CDP is a non-profit charity and provides a global disclosure climate action reporting platform for businesses and all levels of government.

The City reported its progress on the implementation of the community-based Climate Action Plan, the community emissions inventory and carbon reduction target. CDP awarded the City a B for its reporting, recognizing its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change.

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. The City joined GCoM in 2020 and was one of 25 Canadian municipalities to participate in Showcase Cities, a program hosted by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Partners for Climate Protection program and ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability. The program was designed to support municipalities in their actions to meet the requirements of GCoM.

Watch the Climate Resilient Burlington launch event with David Phillips who through factual and entertaining storytelling highlighted what’s happening to our weather, what should we be worried about, and what we can do to make a difference and be better prepared.

The City of Burlington is hosting a virtual launch of Climate Resilient Burlington (CRB): A Plan for Adapting to Our Warmer, Wetter and Wilder Weather with a free online event.

In the online event, participants will learn more about the CRB project and hear from keynote speaker David Phillips, Senior Climatologist, Environment and Climate Change Canada as he presents “Weather and Climate: It’s Not What Our Grandparents Knew.” Participants will have an opportunity to ask David questions after his presentation.

Canadians love to talk about weather. In the past, we used to take comfort in a relatively predictable climate where winters were cold, summers were hot and when the term ‘April showers bring May flowers’ didn’t include the fear of torrential downpours and flooding. Burlington has not been unscathed and on Aug. 4, 2014, 190 mm of rain fell resulting in over 3,000 properties being flooded. Through David’s factual and entertaining storytelling presentation, David will highlight what’s happening to our weather, what should we be worried about, and what we can do to make a difference and be better prepared.

Date: Oct. 27, 2021
Time: 7 to 9 p.m.
Location: Online.

About David Phillips

David has been employed with Environment Canada's weather service for 50 years. His work activities relate to the study of the climate of Canada and to promote awareness and understanding of meteorology. He has published several books, papers and reports, including a book on The Climates of Canada, and two bestsellers: The Day Niagara Falls Ran Dry and Blame It On The Weather. He was the originator and author of the Canadian Weather Trivia Calendar. David frequently appears on national radio and television as a commentator on weather and climate matters. He has been awarded the Commemorative Medal for the 125^th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada, the Queen Elizabeth Golden and Diamond Jubilee Medals and has twice received the Public Service Merit Award. David is the recipient of three honorary doctorates from the universities of Waterloo and Windsor and Nipissing University. In 2001, David was named to the Order of Canada.

About Climate Resilience Burlington

On April 23, 2019, Burlington City Council declared a climate emergency “for the purposes of deepening our commitment to protecting our economy, environment and community from climate change.”

Burlington is one of many local governments planning actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions within city operations and community-wide to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. However, we must also do what we can to adapt to our changing climate which is projected to be warmer, wetter and wilder.

Actions related to climate adaptation are already being carried out locally. Developing Climate Resilient Burlington: A Plan for Adapting to Our Warmer, Wetter and Wilder Weather, will help identify additional vulnerabilities and risks requiring further attention and align actions to plan for our changing climate.

Join us on Wednesday, October 27 from 7 to 9 p.m. for the virtual Climate Resilient Burlington (CRB) project launch event.

Register now

• Our keynote speaker David Phillips, Senior Climatologist, Environment and Climate Change Canada, will present "Weather and Climate: It's Not What Our Grandparents Knew" followed by a Q&A session.
• Learn more about CRB and how you can get involved.