Cost of Doing Nothing Assessment Toolbox for Municipal Climate Decisions

Solution Overview

Vancouver's Climate Change Adaptation Strategy includes an action to generate localized cost-implication estimates from inaction on climate adaptation, using ICLEI's Cost of Doing Nothing toolbox for municipal governments.[1] In 2024, staff began a Cost of Doing Nothing study in partnership with ICLEI Canada, with results expected in mid-2025.[3] This study will provide Vancouver-specific estimates of the costs of climate inaction across different sectors and hazards, helping to inform future adaptation investment decisions and build a stronger business case for climate adaptation funding.[3]

Technical Components

ICLEI Canada developed the Cost of Doing Nothing toolbox to provide municipalities with guidance on collecting locally-relevant data to weigh the costs of inaction when investing in climate action.[4] The toolbox includes eight national impact statements that form the basis for the cost of doing nothing assessment used in the municipal template.[4] A Data Collection Tracking Tool is provided as an editable Excel spreadsheet that suggests potential sources of climate, costs, and impacts data for each of the eight national impact statements, and provides guidance on how best to attain and track the collection of this data.[4] Appendix A includes a summary table of publicly available national and subnational resources and datasets to support municipalities in understanding and evaluating climate change projections, costs and impacts across sectors and climate change hazards.[4] The methodology involves analyzing the costs of inaction by identifying the direct and indirect costs of climate impacts on the asset or service.[6] The approach then analyzes the costs of adaptation by identifying the direct and indirect costs of potential adaptation actions.[6] The methodology compares the costs of inaction to the costs of adaptation to determine the net benefit or cost of adaptation.[6]

Implementation Details

Vancouver is a participating municipality in the Economic Tools to Advance Adaptation project, working with ICLEI Canada to apply the Cost of Doing Nothing report tailored to climate hazards and risks specific to their community.[2] The study is conducted in partnership with ICLEI Canada.[3] The ETAA project is funded by Natural Resources Canada's Climate Change Adaptation Program.[2] The CODN Toolbox was made possible with funding from the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks alongside financial support from the Government of Canada through the federal Department of Environment and Climate Change Canada as part of the Advancing Adaptation Project.[4] For this Strategy update, the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium at the University of Victoria prepared downscaled climate data for the City of Vancouver based on an ensemble of nine global climate models used in the IPCC's most recent AR6 report.[1]

Benefits and Impacts

The tool can help understand what the costs of climate inaction are at the local level, and what the distribution of those costs is across different sectors and society.[1] The equity outcome for the cost estimation action is that improved data will help with making more equity-centred decisions on climate adaptation moving forward.[1] Following CODN analysis, municipalities identify and prioritize adaptation actions based on the results of the CODN analysis.[6] The methodology supports developing an implementation plan for the prioritized adaptation actions, including timelines, responsibilities, and funding sources.[6] The approach integrates the adaptation plan into other municipal plans and processes, such as asset management plans, capital budgets, and community plans.[6] Comparable implementations demonstrate the value of this approach: the City of Selkirk, Manitoba, undertook a CODN analysis to support their decision-making process for a new wastewater treatment plant.[6] The analysis found that the cost of inaction, which included the risk of non-compliance with provincial regulations and the potential for nutrient loading to cause algae blooms in Lake Winnipeg, was significantly higher than the cost of building a new, more resilient plant.[6] The CODN analysis helped to build a strong business case for the new plant and secure funding from the provincial and federal governments.[6] The City of Windsor completed a technical analysis of 19 possible climate change impacts in November 2019 as part of their climate adaptation planning process using the CODN approach.[4]

Climate Adaptation Relevance

Vancouver experienced a devastating heat dome in 2021 followed by atmospheric rivers.[5] Vancouver's first Climate Change Adaptation Strategy was released in 2012 and renewed in 2018.[5] This study will provide Vancouver-specific estimates of the costs of climate inaction across different sectors and hazards, helping to inform future adaptation investment decisions and build a stronger business case for climate adaptation funding.[3]

[1]: City of Vancouver Climate Change Adaptation Strategy [2]: ICLEI Canada ETAA Project Documentation [3]: Vancouver Climate Adaptation Progress Report 2024 [4]: ICLEI Canada Cost of Doing Nothing Toolbox [5]: Vancouver Climate Change Adaptation Strategy Introduction [6]: ICLEI Canada Cost of Doing Nothing Methodology Guide