Was Texas adequately adapted to extreme temperatures in February? Was Fort McMurray adapted to fires in 2016? Or the floods in 2020? While these are extreme events for past climate patterns, they will increasingly become the normal for future climate patterns. Climate change affects every province and territory and will affect you and your business in Canada. However, in most cases it is likely to result in slow changes like rising heat or shifting rainfall throughout the year that are not easily noticeable from day-to-day or sudden events like natural disasters which are extreme only while the event is happening. Canada is already seeing many of the following changes:

• Yukon: Drastic wildlife changes resulting in new species inhabiting new areas and other species struggling, resulting in likely mass extinctions.
• Northwest Territories: Permafrost melting resulting in collapsing and shifting landscapes can be damaging to infrastructure.
• Nunavut: May not have reliable ice cover in winter anymore resulting in changes in lives and more difficult transportation, especially for traditional cultures which often rely on the ice cover for their livelihoods.
• Manitoba: Altered agriculture patterns increasing strife on crops. Crop failure due to monocultures and pests wiping out entire crop species.
• Saskatchewan: Likely to see serious water shortages due to more frequent and intense summer droughts, depleting aquifers and reducing crop yields.
• Alberta: Likely to see significant move away from fossil fuels resulting in massive job and economic losses.
• British Columbia: Likely to see many more fires and which pose an imminent threat to many communities.
• Ontario: Could see winter ice-free great lakes over this decade & increased risks of flooding because of more intense, increasing rain.
• Quebec: Increasing spread of Lyme disease due to warmer temperatures which increase the spread of ticks and other disease carrying insects.
• Newfoundland and Labrador: Ocean acidification resulting in dramatic reduction of fish stocks producing difficult livelihoods for fisher people.
• Nova Scotia: Increased risk of extreme weather from hurricanes and other disasters.
• New Brunswick: Sea level rise effecting and destroying many costal communities.
• Prince Edward Island: Health effects of heat waves, resulting in smog, respiratory illnesses, and heatstroke.

According to the Clean Air Partnership’s Climate Change Impacts in Toronto report, Toronto (for example) will likely see significant impacts to many sectors:

1. Water: Water demand in the summer will be in high demand and in winter may cause substantial flooding.
2. Health: increasing heat will increase smog and vector-borne disease.
3. Energy: Transmission lines are at risk of storms, and generation capacity is at risk from warmer temperatures
4. Transportation: Transit operations are vulnerable to blackouts and shipping activity will face significant costs if water level drops due to prolonged droughts.
5. Buildings: Susceptible to storms, flooding and increasing wind intensity.
6. Urban ecosystem: increasing stress on urban forests, and increasingly invasive species inhabiting wetlands.
7. Socio-economic: Adaptation is difficult for low-income households, who are usually the most at risk in the first place.
8. Tourism and recreation: Low lake levels, poor air quality or threat of disease can all potentially reduce tourism in the city.
9. Economy: Blackouts and extreme weather will disrupt the economy and increase the cost of doing business.

The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a leading global framework on climate disclosures identified 6 key lessons for companies to adapt to climate change:

1. Companies are identifying significant risks but need to expand their analysis.
2. The biggest companies report major financial implications.
3. The opportunities are bigger than the risks.
4. Differences are striking across countries and regions.
5. The opportunities far outweigh the costs of adaptation plans.
6. Companies and investors need to learn lessons from the power sector.

The CDP further reported that “225 of the world’s 500 biggest companies reported climate-related opportunities represented potential financial impacts totalling over US$2.1 trillion dollars. The majority of this impact is driven by the potential increase in revenue due to demand for low emissions products and services, as well as the potential for a better competitive position against shifting consumer preferences.” Further still, 53% of companies reporting to CDP identify inherent climate-related risks with the potential to have a substantive financial or strategic impact on their business, especially in the transition to a green future. Some of those identified risks and opportunities are:

Transitional Risks. 

• Policy and legal: Increased pricing of GHG emissions (nearly half the companies – 1123 companies).
• Policy and legal: Mandates and regulation of existing products and services (792 companies).
• Policy and legal: Enhanced emissions-reporting obligations (645 companies).
• Market: Changing customer behavior (627 companies).

Physical Risks. 

• The increased severity of extreme weather risks.
• Changes to precipitation and weather patterns.
• Rising mean temperatures.

Opportunities. 

• Increased revenue through demand for low emissions products and services – US$970 billion.
• Better competitive position to reflect shifting consumer preferences – US$487 billion.
• Increased revenue through new solutions to adaptation needs – US$236 billion.
• Increased capital availability (as more investors favour low-emissions producers) – US$198 billio