Report 1—National Adaptation Strategy

As our climate changes and impacts such as heat waves, floods, droughts, and wildfires become more frequent and more devastating, countries around the world, including Canada, are developing and implementing plans and strategies to help adapt to our changing climate.

Given the scale of the challenge, engagement from all levels of government and civil society as well as the private sector and all Canadians is critical to Canada’s ultimate success in adapting to climate change. The federal government plays a key leadership role to ensure that adaptation actions across the country are coordinated, effective, and efficient.

Canada released its National Adaptation Strategy in 2023, which is an important first step. However, it was one of the last countries of the Organisation of Economic Co‑operation and Development to do so. Timely action on adaptation measures is important because the costs of climate‑related events continue to rise, meaning Canadians will pay more to adapt the longer we delay action.

Overall, we found that Environment and Climate Change Canada, working with Health Canada; Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada; Natural Resources Canada; and Public Safety Canada, did not effectively design the National Adaptation Strategy. The strategy did not prioritize Canada’s climate change risks. It also did not include an economic analysis to assign appropriate resources and an effective framework for measuring, monitoring, and reporting results. Some targets for key health risks, such as Lyme disease and wildfire smoke, were missing from the Government of Canada Adaptation Action Plan. Although it is early days for implementation, we found that Environment and Climate Change Canada, working with key partners, had not yet established 2 of the 3 key implementation components: the Federal, Provincial and Territorial Bilateral Action Plans and the Indigenous Climate Leadership Agenda.

The Government of Canada Adaptation Action Plan that was released alongside the strategy sets out the federal government’s contributions and was to be the centrepiece component of the National Adaptation Strategy. We found that the plan was neither systematic nor comprehensive. The 73 actions included in the plan were a mix of new and existing federal programming, and Environment and Climate Change Canada did not know the total federal funding commitments made for them. We found that there were few early actions in place within the 7 key programs assessed. Furthermore, Environment and Climate Change Canada will report only once on progress before the next iteration of the strategy planned for 2030. Reporting on progress sooner and more regularly is important so that Environment and Climate Change Canada can know whether the National Adaptation Strategy is effective and how to course correct as needed.

An improved National Adaptation Strategy and timely action to adapt to our changing climate and extreme weather are critical to protect the health, safety, and livelihoods of Canadians.