Coalition seeks climate resiliency funding

Oct. 28, 2024 — CLIMATE Proof Canada has urged the federal government to invest at least $5.3bn annually over the next five years to ramp up the country’s new National Adaptation Strategy.

The coalition, which includes more than a dozen p&c companies and organizations as members, met in Ottawa in October with federal cabinet ministers and opposition critics, Indigenous leaders and communities, mayors and municipal leaders, first responders and disaster response organizations, academics and other partner organizations to explore ways to make Canada more resilient to climate change.

The coalition presented a series of recommendations to guide federal investment that will enable Canada to make rapid, tangible progress on targets set out in the adaptation strategy and to become more climate resilient.

It has also identified immediate actions that do not require additional investment.

“After the most destructive season in Canadian history for insured losses due to severe weather, it has never been more urgent to make our communities more resilient to climate change,” said Climate Proof Canada chair Jason Clark, who is also the national director for climate change advocacy at the Insurance Bureau of Canada.

“We need an all-of-society effort to protect our families, homes and businesses. But leadership must come from the federal government.”

Climate Proof Canada members from the insurance industry include Aon, Aviva, the Canadian Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, Co-operators, Definity, Desjardins, Gore Mutual, the Insurance Brokers Association of Canada, the Insurance Bureau of Canada, Intact Financial Corp., the Property and Casualty Insurance Compensation Corp., Sun Life Financial, TD Insurance, Travelers, Wawanesa and Zurich Canada.

The coalition has presented a series of recommendations to lay the groundwork to enhance Canada’s resilience to climate change.

Climate Proof Canada says the federal government must work to build resilient infrastructure and communities, enhance disaster resilience, strengthen First Nations and Métis preparedness and improve health and well-being through new, additional spending and improved program delivery.

The coalition has called on the government to explore the development of co-ordination measures including a national emergency management agency, where each level of government and sector enables the other to do their part to close existing capacity and capability gaps.

It has also recommended the creation of a national recovery strategy to ensure that all levels of government establish emergency management planning and processes and have enhanced preparedness and adaptation capacity for climate risk with key indicators, enhanced disaster response and recovery capacity and clear and reduced recovery timelines to help communities hit by disasters return to their homes within two years.

Climate Proof Canada has also urged the government to commit funds to back a reinsurance entity to administer a national flood insurance program for high-risk households in partnership with p&c insurers through a new subsidiary of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

(For more independent coverage of Canadian p&c industry news and trends, please choose the ‘Subscribe’ tab on our main page or email mpub@rogers.com for more information).