Climate Resilience Strategy and Action Plans Annual Report 2020
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Climate Resilience Strategy and Action Plans Annual Report 2020 Contents Executive summary 1 Introduction 4 The context of climate change 5 The Climate Resilience Strategy progress check 9 Progress summary: Climate governance and outreach 10 Progress summary: Climate change mitigation 11 Progress summary: Climate change adaptation 16 The road ahead 19 Appendix 1 – Climate governance and outreach 20 Appendix 2 – Climate Mitigation Action Plan 26 Appendix 3 – Climate Adaptation Action Plan 42 Executive summary The Climate Resilience Strategy guides The decrease of 14 per cent compared to 2019 – City of Calgary’s approach to climate change which is an unprecedented change The mitigation and adaptation The action plans that decrease in emissions happened for several support the delivery of the Climate Resilience reasons, including COVID-19 restrictions Strategy include efforts to establish climate impacting energy use across all sectors, the change governance; integrate and align climate provincial electricity supply becoming cleaner, change considerations and practices into City and warmer-than-usual weather reducing the services and processes; implement outreach and demand for heating Despite the significant education programs; reduce community and reduction in the last year, Calgary’s 2020 emissions City GHG emissions (climate mitigation); and were still only 0 4 per cent below 2005 levels, reduce climate-related risk to the community thus we are not yet on track to meet our target and in The City’s infrastructure and operations The Adaptation Action Plan currently has no (climate adaptation) This report provides an defined targets nor is it measurable by a specific update on the progress of those action plans for reduction target This challenge is not unique the period January 1 – December 31, 2020 to The City of Calgary, as many municipalities in Canada and around the globe are still working Measuring progress to benchmark corporate and community The City has made good progress on the climate-related risk, define the boundaries action plans set out in the strategy Most of climate risk assessment, and develop the actions are underway, and many have already appropriate indicators and performance been embedded into business processes and measures to assess adaptation progress programs Out of a total of 244 actions, Through a comprehensive best practices 41 actions are complete, 162 actions are in review conducted in 2020 of the most current progress and 41 actions have not been started methodology and practices to measure and evaluate climate adaptation, a measurement The key target in the Climate Mitigation Action framework is being developed for Calgary Plan is to reduce city-wide GHG emissions by The framework will align with The City’s 80 per cent below 2005 levels by 2050 This Results-Based Accountability framework and target requires an overall reduction in total includes a combination of climate-related risk emissions even as we expect the population and indicators and program-based effort and economy to continue to grow In 2020, Calgary’s effect-based performance measures city-wide emissions were 15 73 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) This is a 1 | Climate Resilience Strategy and Action Plans Annual Report 2020 In addition to continuing to implement the Action implementation Climate Mitigation and Adaptation Action Plans, Actions have been implemented in the key projects for 2021 include: Climate Mitigation Action Plan in five key • Formalizing Climate Change Governance theme areas: Buildings and energy systems, at The City of Calgary, in line with the Transportation and land-use, Consumption administrative realignment and waste, Natural infrastructure – Carbon sinks • Updating the Climate Resilience Strategy and Leading by example and Action Plans to consider the resources Actions have been implemented in the Climate and effort needed to achieve the 2050 Net- Adaptation Action Plan in five key theme zero target, to be brought forward to Council areas: Climate adaptation reporting, People, in 2022 Built infrastructure, Natural infrastructure and • Establishing a city-wide carbon budget Watershed management • Further developing and implementing the Growth and Development Climate Framework Path forward to integrate climate considerations throughout The success of the Climate Resiliency Strategy the planning approvals continuum is dependent on active prioritization by • Exploring the integration of climate Administration, including supportive funding related financial disclosure into The City’s and resourcing Continued measurement, Annual Financial Reporting utilizing the verification of targets, identification of external TCFD framework impacts and feedback-loops are also vital Climate Resilience Strategy and Action Plans Annual Report 2020 | 2 3 | Climate Resilience Strategy and Action Plans Annual Report 2020 Introduction Human activities are causing the earth’s implement outreach and education programs, climate to change at a fast and accelerating reduce community and City GHG emissions rate As the climate shifts, more frequent and (climate mitigation), and reduce climate-related severe climate-related hazards such as flooding, risk to the community and in The City’s drought, damaging storms and heat waves are infrastructure and operations (climate occurring, impacting our built environment, adaptation) Two years into implementation most natural environment and community wellbeing actions are underway, with many actions now This continuing change requires The City of embedded into business processes and programs Calgary (The City) to respond by integrating This report provides a high-level summary of climate action across the organization to The City of Calgary’s progress-to-date Additional maintain City services, minimize costs, reduce details on The City of Calgary’s climate actions community vulnerability and do our part to can be found in the following appendices: curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions • Climate governance and outreach: Appendix 1 contributing to global climate change • Climate change mitigation: Appendix 2 This report provides an update on The City of • Climate change adaptation: Appendix 3 Calgary’s Climate Resilience Strategy and Action Plans for the period January 1 – December The City of Calgary Climate Panel, an external 31, 2020 In partnership with business units advisory network made up of representatives and community partners, The City has begun from 22 stakeholder organizations in the implementing the actions identified in the community, has provided their annual report in Mitigation and Adaptation Action Plans for a separate attachment carbon and energy management and climate adaptation These actions include efforts to establish climate change governance, integrate and align climate change considerations and practices into City services and processes, Climate Resilience Strategy and Action Plans Annual Report 2020 | 4 The context of climate change The impacts of climate change are happening areas, including Calgary and Edmonton, will now, and are being felt in more severe ways continue to see high costs of recovery following around the globe The year 2020 was tied extreme weather events with 2016 as the hottest year on record, and concluded the hottest decade on record It was Calgary climate and The annual also another active year for climate-related average disasters, including wildfires in Australia, weather extremes 2020 temperature Siberia, the United States West Coast and South The costliest weather extreme experienced in Canada has America; a record number of Atlantic hurricanes; in Calgary in 2020 was the June 13 severe hail flooding in Africa and South East Asia, and storm which resulted in significant hail damage increased by record temperatures in the Arctic The Northern 1.7°C between and an estimated $1 3 billion in insurance Hemisphere saw its hottest year on record as claims Golf-ball-sized hail damaged buildings, 1948 and well, at 1 28°C above the 20th-century average shattered windows, cracked or shattered 2016, while In Canada, climate change is happening at windshields and damaged vehicles Street average winter about double the rate of global warming, with flooding and blackouts impacted several areas temperature northern Canada projected to continue to warm of the city More vehicles were written off due to has increased even faster Canada has already seen significant this one event than are bought in all of Alberta by 3.3°C and irreversible changes to our climate The in an entire year (2019 report). prairies have seen the strongest warming to On December 21 and 22, a record-breaking date across southern Canada, particularly in the 27 cm of snow was recorded at the Calgary By comparison, winter months Airport, topping the previous record snowfall Alberta’s mean We know that climate impacts, ranging for these two days at 8 4 cm and 12 7 cm temperature from broad-scale ecosystem shifts, to an respectively The snow buried streets, resulting has increased amplification of floods, droughts, and severe in vehicle collisions and City transit and by 1.4°C. weather, will negatively affect the prairie region, emergency response vehicles being unable including those people most vulnerable, and to provide critical services Travel advisories that adaptation measures can help to decrease were activated for many of the major highways the impacts of these changes Highly populated leaving the city Global mean temperature difference from 1850 to 1900 (oC) 1.2 HadCRUT NOAAGlobalTemp