Corporate Adaptation Strategy - City of Saskatoon

The City of Saskatoon will develop a climate adaptation plan to reduce the City’s vulnerability to climate change impacts. It consists of a Corporate Adaptation Strategy that will directly inform the City’s Corporate Asset Management Plan, Corporate Risk Management Program and Emergency Response Plan, among others.The City intends to use the “Changing Climate, Changing Communities: Guide and Workbook for Municipal Climate Adaptation” resource from ICLEI Canada as the guiding methodology. Engagement with internal and external stakeholders will ensure that the plan is operationally feasible and addresses the needs of residents. A cross-division project team will guide and inform the development of a vulnerability assessment, a risk assessment, and a plan that includes a vision, goals and objectives, baseline and indicator data, financing and budgeting and a detailed implementation schedule. The City will consult with the Prairie Climate Atlas and local insurance companies to get a realistic vulnerability assessment completed.The Corporate Adaptation Strategy will identify significant risks facing Saskatoon, including failure of built infrastructure, higher costs associated with a climate change reactive approach, and a loss of civic assets. The strategy will address the root cause of these risks, including resource constraints, lack of understanding related to climate change, and infrastructure investment criteria that included the value of adaptation strategies.The Corporate Adaptation Strategy should achieve a number of co-benefits such as reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through coordination with the climate change mitigation business plan, sustainable procurement criteria, use of green infrastructure to provide habitat, storm water management and carbon sequestration, improvements to safety and public health, increased public education and awareness, extended lifespan for facilities and infrastructure, and stimulus of the local economy through use of local business.