Preparing your region for climate change with the Climate Plan
Why create a Climate Plan?
In February 2024, the Quebec government launched the ''Accelerating 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. These plans must be submitted to the government via the MRCs. (To find out more about the ATCL program, visit our Resources page).
Essentially, Climate Plans enable municipalities to look ahead to 2041, 2070 and 2100. In Canada, the climate is warming at twice the global average. The challenges of climate change are real and undeniable, and they will grow in the coming decades. A Climate Plan is therefore an opportunity for MRCs to have precise data on future climate hazards and to prepare for them as best they can, but also to have access to truly substantial funding to choose and implement concrete actions on the scale of their territories.
How can you identify the actions you need to implement in your area?
Carrying out a diagnosis of their territory is logically the first step in a climate plan, enabling MRCs and municipalities to then draw up an action plan that corresponds to their reality and needs. For some MRCs and municipalities, this stage has already been completed in the past, for example with the production of ecological portraits of their territories. These studies provide answers to strategic planning questions, such as: Which areas are most at risk of flooding? What are the most polluting sources for watercourses? Where are the carbon sinks located? To find out how to carry out an ecological portrait, visit this page.
This type of preliminary study, and the associated recommendations, can be used to draw up your Climate Plan, and provide guidelines for your land-use strategy and prioritize actions.
What should a Climate Plan contain?
To qualify for funding, municipalities are required to submit a Climate Plan to the government via their MRC. This document must be created in consultation with local partners and reflect the needs of the entire territory concerned. It is up to the MRCs to choose the direction they want their Climate Plan to take. The territories of each MRC are unique, as are their constraints, and the objectives of such an exercise will therefore be different. MRCs must take ownership of this Climate Plan and adapt it to their specific needs.
To be eligible, the Climate Plan must include :
An assessment of the territory's climate change risks and adaptation objectives
An inventory of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and reduction targets
An action plan covering the entire MRC territory
Recourse to external partners for consultation and preparation of the Climate Plan is an expense covered by the ATCL program. In this case, the MRC may issue a call for tenders to recruit service providers to provide the required support.
How to draw up an invitation to tender for a Climate Plan?
Formulate precise objectives: once you've completed your diagnostics or other studies, you should have a clear idea of the specific features of your area. (geographical, administrative, population context or biodiversity vulnerability). In order to receive bids that match your needs, list your objectives and expectations precisely. For example: mitigate the canopy's vulnerability to climate change and heat islands, while developing a planting strategy that equitably increases the territory's canopy. The more precise you are about your objectives, the more targeted proposals you'll receive from service providers.
Carry out a consultation: the ATCL program aims to involve all stakeholders in RCMs and municipalities. The government is encouraging communities to bring together all the players involved in land-use planning (partners, NPOs, private companies and citizen collectives) in order to generate a collective reflection that will be used in drawing up the Climate Plan. Costs incurred in this process may be covered by the ATCL program.
Include a qualification document specifying the type of service you're looking for. For example, if you wish to promote biodiversity and "nature solutions" in your area, you can indicate that the selected service provider will have to give priority to green infrastructures to meet the identified challenges. They will also have to prioritize the areas where the solutions are implemented so that they benefit local biodiversity (creation of quality habitats, selection of species favorable to pollinators, improvement of the connectivity network within the territory).
Get support : The FQM and UMQ are working with the government to support MRCs in implementing the ATCL program. Click here for our complete webinar on the subject!
