Helping Canadians Adapt to Climate Change

Our world’s climate is changing dramatically, and Canada’s climate is changing twice as fast than the global average. To ensure that our buildings and communities can withstand these changes, we need infrastructure standards that reflect the future climate, not the climate of the past. Since 2016, SCC’s Standards to Support Resilience in Infrastructure Program has led the development of standards and related guidance to safeguard infrastructure and communities. 

Our projects range from publishing reports that identify priorities and best practices for climate change adaptation, to supporting the work of national and international standards committees, to funding the development of new standards and updating existing ones. 

We focus on four key areas:

• Arming standards writers with the tools to fight climate change
• Getting the most out of weather and climate data
• Helping northern communities adapt to a rapidly changing climate
• Designing infrastructure that can stand up to extreme weather events

SCC held a national consultation in the spring and summer of 2020 to find out what else is needed to help Canadians adapt to climate change. The input we received underscores the importance of the work SCC has advanced to date in close partnership with standards development organizations (SDOs) and other key partners. The findings also highlight the risks of not taking further action to adapt to climate change.

To find out about the results of this consultation, read our Standards in Action: Building a Climate Resilient Future report.

For a list of projects under SCC’s Infrastructure Program, click here. 

Supporting Clean Tech Innovators

At SCC, we support clean tech innovators through standardization activities that foster commercialization and market access. These activities include increasing participation on technical committees, supporting the development of new standards and developing conformity assessment programs based on existing standards such as ISO 14034 Environmental management -- Environmental technology verification.

Through our Innovation Initiative we connect directly with clean tech companies to develop a customized standardization strategy and examine funding possibilities to support their projects. As a member of the Clean Growth Hub, SCC is one pillar in the federal ecosystem which supports advancement in clean technology and we encourage innovators to connect with one of our sector specialists for targeted guidance and support on their standardization journey.

Profiles