REGINA — The City of Regina has put forward a plan to adopt a Corporate Climate Adaptation Strategy (CCAS).
The CCAS is a “comprehensive approach to addressing climate change and a strategy to support the environmental and risk management benefits of climate adaptation,” per a report.
These approaches include infrastructure resilience, drought preparedness, stormwater management, environmental water quality, trees and nature, building operations, safety and emergency response and proactive seasonal service delivery.
Regina is projected to see an increase in severe weather in the next few decades, according to the Prairie Adaptation Research Collaborative (PARC).
“Warmer temperatures and increased humidity, combined with prairie winds, indicate the potential for increased extreme storm events,” the report notes.
Regina is expected to see a three-time increase in days over 30 C and a nine-time increase in days over 35 C.
The report also notes warmer temperatures in the winter will cause more freeze-thaw cycles.
Increases in freeze-thaw cycles can lead to more maintenance repairs, reduced asset lifespan, and cause property taxes to increases.
In terms of climate change affecting costs for Canada, the report mentions by 2050, the cost of climate change compared with a climate stable scenario will be between $78 to $101 billion in lost GDP for the country.
Saskatchewan itself could see upwards of roughly $3.1 billion loss in GDP from climate change by 2050.
To actively manage these risk, the city plans to review and update infrastructure which is resilient to climate change.
In the report, investing $1 into climate resilience can lead to $12 to 15 in GDP.
If approved next week at city council, the CCAS will be brought back to the council as an annual report.
