Climate Resilient Burlington

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.

On March 4, 2021, City staff presented the Environment, Infrastructure and Community Services Committee with a staff report introducing the work done to date on the Climate Resilient Burlington project. Also included with the report were:

• Climate Projections for Burlington Region which highlighted Burlington’s baseline data (1976-2005) under the categories of temperature, hot weather, cold weather, precipitation and agriculture with future projections (2021-2050 and 2051-2080) under lower and higher (business as usual) greenhouse gas emission scenarios using the Climate Atlas of Canada. Data for extreme weather and Lake Ontario was also included where available from additional sources.

• Check out these Infographics to understand some key data.

The Climate Change Impacts Story Map was also released which showcases historical weather events in Burlington which could become more frequent in the future.