The City of Sault Ste. Marie’s conducted a climate change risk assessment consisting of two workshops held with City employees from different departments as well as several regional and provincial organizations working in the areas of conservation, health and natural resources. (Climate Risk Institute, 2020, p. 3). In the first workshop, participants identified risks for municipal services and for its residents; in the second workshop, participants ranked the risks identified in the first workshop in order of gravity and likelihood (Climate Risk Institute, 2020, p. 3). This risk assessment used a mixed-methods approach, benefiting from the specialized knowledge and perspective of local participants from different city departments as well as key external stakeholders, while also relying on the presentation of climate data, guidance and expertise provided by external consultants to frame the discussion (Climate Risk Institute, 2020, p. 9-10). The scope of the assessment was quite high-level and broad, covering all departments and a wide spectrum of consequences for “people, economy, environment and city” as well as for community members (Climate Risk Institute, 2020, p. 3, p. 21; Guidance on good practices in climate change risk assessment, 2021, p. 11).
This assessment made effective use of a hybrid approach (top-down and bottom-up) to benefit from the advantages of these different strategies. For instance, facilitators with climate change expertise were able to frame and guide the discussions of workshop participants who brought sector-specific knowledge; engaging with local stakeholders also promoted buy-in (Climate Risk Institute, 2020, p. 13). One significant shortcoming of this assessment was that indigenous communities were not consulted. For instance, the Missanabie Cree First Nation and Garden River First Nation, both local indigenous communities, should have been engaged. As well, the assessment’s objectives included identifying risks for “the lives and livelihoods of residents in the city and region” (Climate Risk Institute, 2020, p. 3), community stakeholders were not consulted. In addition to providing valuable local knowledge and lived experience, community stakeholder participation could have been included with attention paid to demographic diversity, in order to include a variety of perspectives and experiences related to “income levels, housing situations, ages, genders, disability and health status, urban versus suburban residents, employment type (e.g. outdoor workers versus downtown office workers) and immigration status” (Ponette, 2022, p.5). These varied perspectives and lived experiences would have provided a much more accurate understanding of the actual vulnerabilities and risks affecting the community.
No next steps appear to have been planned for the assessment, although there were several recommended actions and uses provided (Climate Risk Institute, 2020, p. 35; Sault Ste. Marie, Climate Change Adaptation section). As I have previously mentioned, as per their website the City has chosen to focus primarily on mitigation rather than adaptation for the time being (Sault Ste. Marie, Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Plan section).
References
Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment(2021). Guidance on Good Practices in Climate Change Risk Assessment. https://ccme.ca/en/res/riskassessmentguidancesecured.pdf
Climate Risk Institute. (2020). Climate Change Risk Assessment – City of Sault Ste. Marie. https://saultstemarie.ca/Cityweb/media/Community-Services/GHG/Final-Report-Climate-Change-Risk-Assessment_SSM.pdf
Ponette, M. (2022). Assignment 2: Critical Evaluation of Climate Assessment Typologies [Unpublished Essay]. Faculty of Environment & Sustainability, Royal Roads University.
Sault Ste. Marie (n.d.). Climate Change Adaptation. Retrieved February 3, 2022 from https://saultstemarie.ca/City-Hall/City-Departments/Community-Development-Enterprise-Services/FutureSSM/Environment/Greenhouse-Gas-Reduction-Plan/Climate-Change-Adaptation.aspx
Sault Ste. Marie (n.d.). Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Plan. Retrieved February 3, 2022 from https://saultstemarie.ca/City-Services/City-Departments/Community-Development-and-Enterprise-Services/FutureSSM/Environment/Greenhouse-Gas-Emissions-Reduction-Plan.aspx
Miriam, I enjoyed reading your summary of Sault Ste. Marie’s assessment. What strikes me is the City’s note that they are focusing on mitigation for the time being (rather than adaptation). Yet, they spent all this time and effort doing the risk assessment. Do you get the sense that circumstances changed between when the risk assessment started and completed? I’m wondering whether a change in strategic priorities, or budget, or elected officials took place. It’s always interesting to reflect on the politics and behind-the-scenes conversations taking place. It seems those can change the entire direction of a City’s approach to climate action.
Hi Amy,
Thanks for reading my blog and it’s interesting that you noticed that, because I spent a lot of time thinking about that too. My hypothesis is drawn from the letter that is included at the beginning of the risk assessment (Climate Risk Institute, 2020, p.2). In it, the Climate Risk Institute thanks the City of Sault-Ste-Marie for participating, as part of a network of five northern Ontario municipalities. I could be off the mark, but this letter makes me think that the idea to do a risk assessment was initiated by the Climate Risk Institute or by the Network as a group, rather than by Sault-Ste-Marie. So they might have agreed to it without necessarily having the strong motivation that would have led to them initiating it on their own. In my opinion, this could explain why it didn’t lead to anything (or why their priorities are more focused on mitigation for now).
Thanks again for your post,
Miriam
Reference
Climate Change Risk Assessment – City of Sault Ste. Marie. (2020). Climate Risk Institute.
https://saultstemarie.ca/Cityweb/media/Community-Services/GHG/Final-Report-Climate-Change-Risk-Assessment_SSM.pdf