What kinds of impacts are forecasted for the City of Hamilton?

    ICLEI was retained to create a forecast of climate impacts in the City of Hamilton based on different levels of carbon emissions in the next few decades. Generally, predicted changes  include more extreme weather events including rain storms and heat waves, more ice storms, more summer droughts, higher winds, and expanded ranges of some diseases (like Lyme disease, due to more ticks in the area). 

    Impacts from these changes would include potentially more power blackouts, more school and business closures, greater damage to roads from freeze/thaw cycles, more flooding on the waterfront, higher food prices, more health impacts, and so on.

    What kinds of climate change impacts have affected us so far?

    The City has experienced more waterfront flooding, more erosion on the escarpment affecting access roads, more flooding in the community, more damage to municipal roads, more people affected annually by diseases like Lyme disease, and so on.

    What is Adaptation Planning? Why is the City doing this project?

    Carbon emissions have about a 30-year lag time before they are felt in the climate and weather patterns. This means that the carbon we have already emitted will affect our climate and weather for at least the next thirty years, meaning that some climate change is “baked in” to our future regardless of emission reductions in the short term.

    City services and infrastructure and the Hamilton community at large will be affected by these changes. To minimize the impacts on our residents and businesses and to minimize the financial costs of repairing damage to infrastructure, it is imperative that the City consider possible impacts and create plans to minimize damage from those impacts.

    Adaptation Planning is the umbrella term for carrying out this work: climate changes are forecasted, possible impacts to the City are considered and prioritized, and then means of addressing those impacts are created and implemented. For example, more rain means that existing sewer pipes may be inadequate in future years, and they will need to be replaced with larger pipes; by replacing the pipes proactively, you can reduce the damages and costs of future significant rainfall events. 

    What kinds of projects are included in an Adaptation Plan?

    To date, most adaptation projects in the City have been related to infrastructure: repaving streets, widening sewer pipes, and swapping out ice rinks for splash pads in City parks. We expect these kinds of infrastructure projects to be necessary for many years to come.

     But projects can also focus on social impacts, such as food insecurity, business or school disruptions, or health impacts. Community gardens are one example of a project meant to meet a social impact from climate change, by providing greater and cheaper access to local food within the community.

    How does the Adaptation Planning project relate to the City’s Climate Emergency declaration?

    The Climate Emergency is a global crisis, but in order to meet global climate goals, every individual and organization has a role to play, including the City of Hamilton. 

     Acting on climate has two parts: mitigation (or reducing emissions) and adaptation (or increasing our resilience to impacts we can no longer prevent). While the Climate Emergency declaration and most climate actions remain focused on emissions reductions in order to prevent as many impacts as possible, adaptation is also an important part of the City’s climate plan.