Whereas climate change is collectively and increasingly costing BC local governments billions of dollars in the form of increased maintenance, construction and upgrading of infrastructure, disaster relief, and other climate costs, but the connections between these costs and climate change is often invisible and not adequately considered in planning and budgeting; And whereas ICLEI Canada Local Governments for Sustainability, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities FCM, the Insurance Bureau of Canada IBC and others have prepared tools and reports to assist local governments in understanding the national costs of climate change, but further work is required to ensure that these tools can allow BC local governments to better understand the local costs that they are incurring and will incur due to climate change: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM explore with ICLEI Canada Local Governments for Sustainability, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the Insurance Bureau of Canada, senior levels of government and interested British Columbia local governments and other institutions, ways to tailor the available tools and resources, or if necessary, to develop additional tools, resources andor data sets, aimed at allowing BC local governments to better calculate and understand the financial costs that they are experiencing, or may experience, due to climate change and the need to prepare for climate impacts.
Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy The Province is working with local governments to take actions to both decrease their greenhouse gas emissions and to be prepared for the impacts of a changing climate. Understanding the costs associated with climate change is a significant part of ensuring appropriate actions are taken at the local level. The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy ENV is pleased to work with UBCM and other partners to improve the available tools to enable local governments across BC to better understand the financial costs of addressing and responding to climate change. The Local Government Climate Action Program, administered by ENV, directly supports local governments and Modern Treaty Nations across BC with funding, supports and data to enable effective climate action at the local level. Additional funding opportunities for local governments can be found here at https:communityclimatefunding.gov.bc.ca. The Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness recently established ClimateReadyBC https:climatereadybc.gov.bc.ca, a one-stop-platform to help communities understand and reduce disaster and climate risks and build resilience. ClimateReadyBC is continually being updated with new resources and tools. Feedback is encouraged on the site to make it a useful tool for communities. Asset Management BC https:assetmanagementbc.ca provides guidance in considering climate change mitigation and adaptation in long term financial planning. The Climate Change and Asset Management Delivery Primer Climate-Change-and-Asset-Management.pdf contains information to help municipalities assess the cost of addressing climate change and the financial implications of these actions.
ICLEI Canada Thank you for your letter sharing UBCMs resolution NR46 to explore with ICLEI Canada ways to tailor availabledevelop new tools and resources aimed at allowing BC local governments to better calculate and understand the financial costs of climate change. Were glad to know UBCM sees value in our work to date, and we welcome the opportunity to explore this with you further. Our Cost of Doing Nothing Toolbox is being applied by many municipalities across the country, including some in BC. And it is being adapted to the Qubec context with provincially relevant data. Wed be happy to discuss this with you further, as well as some of the other economic tools for local resilience we are building and piloting in BC and beyond. Megan Meaney sheher Executive Director, ICLEI Canada megan.meaneyiclei.org Cost of Doing Nothing Toolbox URL: https:icleicanada.orgprojectcodn