Climate change adaptation plans

The climate plan

ATCL program

A climate plan presents the risks and opportunities associated with combating climate change. It also identifies priority projects for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, adapting to climate change and supporting the climate transition.

Thanks to its different areas of expertise, Habitat draws up climate plans that take into account the biodiversity of your territories in the systems to be considered, and favors natural solutions that optimize co-benefits.

  • In February 2024, the Government of Quebec launched the "Accelerating the Local Climate Transition (ATCL)" program. This program offers an investment of $500 million over 5 years to Quebec municipalities that commit to implementing a Climate Plan on their territory. This Plan must be submitted to the government through the RCMs. (To learn more about the ATCL program, visit our Resources page.)

    Essentially, the Climate Plans allow municipalities to project themselves to the horizons of 2041, 2070 and 2100. Canada's climate is warming at a rate 2 times faster than the global average. Climate issues are real and undeniable, and they will grow in the coming decades. A Climate Plan is therefore an opportunity for RCMs to have precise data on future climate hazards and to prepare for them as well as possible, but also to have substantial funding to choose and implement concrete actions at the scale of their territories.

  • Carrying out a diagnosis of your territory is logically the first step in a climate plan, it allows RCMs and municipalities to then draft an action plan that corresponds to their reality and their needs. 

    For some RCMs and municipalities, this step has already been carried out in the past, for example with the creation of ecological portraits of their territories. These studies help answer strategic questions for land use planning, such as: Which areas are most at risk of flooding? What are the most polluting sources for waterways? Where are the carbon sinks?

    To find out how to make an ecological portrait, go to this page.

    This type of preliminary study, and the associated recommendations, can be used for the development of your Climate Plan, and offer avenues to guide the land use planning strategy and prioritize actions.

    • Formulate specific objectives : At the end of the diagnoses or other studies you have, you should have a clear idea of the specificities of your territory. (geographical, administrative, population context or biodiversity vulnerability). In order to receive quotes that meet your needs, list your goals and expectations precisely. For example: mitigating canopy vulnerabilities to climate change and heat islands, while developing a planting strategy that equitably increases the land's canopy. The more specific you are about your goals, the more targeted proposals you will receive from service providers.

    • Carry out a consultation : the ATCL program aims to engage all stakeholders in RCMs and municipalities. The government encourages local authorities to bring together the actors involved in land use planning (partners, NPOs, private companies and citizens' collectives) in order to bring out a collective reflection that will be used in the development of the Climate Plan. The costs incurred in this process may be covered under the ATCL program.

    • Include a qualification document specifying what type of service you are looking for. For example, if you want to promote biodiversity and "nature solutions" in your area, you can indicate that the selected service provider will have to prioritize green infrastructure to meet the identified issues. It will also have to prioritize the areas where solutions are implemented so that they benefit local biodiversity (creation of quality habitats, selection of species favourable to pollinators, improvement of the connectivity network within the territory).

    • Get support : The FQM and the UMQ are working with the government to support the RCMs in the implementation of the ATCL program.
      Find our full webinar on the subject under this link!

Vulnerability to extreme heat and heavy rainfall

The case of the MRC Nicolet-Yamaska

In 2019, the Nicolet-Yamaska RCM adopted an ecological transition plan to guide the sustainable development of its territory.

In response to the challenges of biodiversity, Habitat was commissioned to draw up an ecological portrait of the territory, to report on the benefits offered by natural environments and the vulnerabilities to which they are exposed.

  1. Creation of a portrait of the territory to identify biological and climatic vulnerabilities.

  2. Analysis of the benefits (ecosystem services) provided by natural environments and in particular their ability to limit erosion, reduce the transfer of nutrients to waterways or capture and store carbon.

  3. Connectivity analysis to determine key ecological corridors and the importance of natural habitats as habitat for animal species.

  4. Modelling of three potential development scenarios (status quo, compensation and renaturalization) in order to compare the gains and losses associated with different land use strategies.

Analysis of biological and climatic vulnerabilities

Oasis Program

A study of vulnerability to extreme heat and heavy rain presents the vulnerabilities of an urbanized area to climate change and proposes recommendations for nature-based solutions to mitigate the impacts of extreme weather events on the population and infrastructure.

  • In the current climate change (CC) context, Quebec communities are facing an increasing number ofextreme weather events, such as oppressive heat waves, heavy rainfall and accelerated thawing episodes leading to rapid melting of snow cover.

    The flooding episodes of recent years have highlighted the limitations of traditional approaches to stormwater management and, more generally, grey infrastructure. However, it is now recognized that green infrastructure (GI), i.e. natural environments and vegetated landscapes, makes an essential contribution to the well-being, quality of life and health of populations, not least because of its role in mitigating the consequences of climatic extremes.

    In fact, IVs help to capture runoff water and encourage its infiltration into the soil, reducing pressure on the sewer system and the risk of overflows and flooding. What's more, through evapotranspiration, trees cool the air by releasing water absorbed from the ground in the form of vapour, thereby playing a major role in regulating temperatures and combating urban heat islands.

    • A portrait of past and projected climate change

    • Spatial analysis of heat islands and areas likely to be affected by pluvial flooding

    • Assessing the vulnerability of forest environments to extreme heat and flooding

    • Integrated planning of greening strategies and cost-benefit analysis

    • Development of greening strategies aimed at mitigating heat waves, reducing flooding and runoff, ensuring equitable access to the benefits of trees, and increasing the functional diversity of trees and the long-term resilience of the urban forest.

    • Analysis of the costs of greening and the benefits of ecosystem services

Would you like to draw up a climate change adaptation plan?