A University of Waterloo research centre
Generously supported by
About the Intact Centre
The Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation (Intact Centre) is an applied research centre with a national focus within the Faculty of Environment at the University of Waterloo. The Intact Centre works with homeowners, communities, governments and businesses to identify, and reduce, the impacts of extreme weather and climate change.
To this end, the centre is an incubator of new adaptation ideas, conducting research, knowledge mobilization and promoting initiatives aimed at de-risking the negative impacts of a changing climate and extreme weather, such as flooding.
The establishment of the Intact Centre was made possible through the leadership, vision, and generosity of Intact Financial Corporation, a long-time partner and donor to the University of Waterloo particularly supporting climate adaptation. In November 2015, Intact announced a gift directed in support of the centre’s mission and goals.
Recent Outputs
Follow us on Twitter @ICCA Canada for the most recent updates on climate adaptation and flooding.
Rising Seas and Shifting Sands: Combining Natural and Grey Infrastructure to Protect Canada’s Eastern and Western Coastal Communities (December 2021): by Joanna Eyquem. This report outlines the range of practical measures that can be used to protect coastal communities on Canada’s East and West coasts from flooding and erosion. Coastal protection measures include (1) Grey Infrastructure (hard, engineered coastal protection measures); and (2) Nature-Based Solutions (measures that depend on, or mimic, natural systems to manage flood and erosion risk).
Three Steps to Cost-Effective Home Flood Protection (March 2021): Intense rainfall events combined with aging municipal infrastructure, increased urbanization and a lack of flood protection measures at the household level have resulted in losses in billions of dollars for Canada’s insurance companies, governments, homeowners, landlords and tenants over the past decade. The Intact Centre has developed a variety of resources to help Canadians take action to reduce their home flood risk.
Three Steps to Cost-Effective Home Wildfire Protection (October, 2020): FireSmart Canada leads the development of resources and programs designed to empower the public and increase community resilience to wildfire across Canada. The Intact Centre has collaborated with FireSmart Canada to create a summary of the top actions residents can take to reduce home wildfire risk.
Why Public Sector Entities Must Be Allowed to Include Natural Assets in Financial Statements (June 2021): The Intact Centre, KPMG and the Municipal Natural Assets Initiative coordinated a joint response to the Public Sector Accounting Board (PSAB) outlining the need to enable public sector entities to recognize natural assets in their financial statements. The response was co-signed by 69 key organizations, and submitted to PSAB on June 30, 2021 as part of the consultation on their revised Conceptual Framework. Additional supporting information submitted to PSAB provides more detailed information supporting the key points made in the joint response.
Climate Change and the Preparedness of 16 Major Canadian Cities to Limit Flood Risk (February 2021): by Dr. Blair Feltmate and Marina Moudrak. This report examined the preparedness of 16 major Canadian cites to minimize the negative consequences of current and future floods. It is the intent of this report to provide an informed perspective that will contribute to the alleviation of current and future flood and climate-related risks in Canada.
Institutional Investors Find Alpha In Climate Risk Matrices: Global Survey Finds (December 2020): by Natalia Moudrak, Kathryn Bakos, Joanna Eyquem, Hugh O’Reilly, Ashby Monk, Soh Young In. This report that presents results of a global institutional investor survey focused on understanding the methods to assess physical climate risk, the extent of formal training on physical climate risk received by the Boards of Directors, C-Suite officers and portfolio managers, and the utility of Climate Risk Matrices to aid portfolio managers in investment decisions.
Under One Umbrella: Practical Approaches for Reducing Flood Risk in Canada (November 2020): by Natalia Moudrak and Dr. Blair Feltmate. This report outlines practical approaches to limit flood risk in Canada, summarizing best practices from national guidelines and standards applicable to: Residents, governments, federal government and agencies, architects, developers, home builders, home renovation specialists, insurance brokers, mortgage lenders, mortgage brokers, real estate agents, home inspectors, retailers, landscaping professionals, commercial real estate owners/managers, conservation and watershed authorities, environmental not-for-profit organizations, neighbourhood associations, local community groups, local utility companies, institutional investors, and professional regulatory bodies.
Climate Change and the Preparedness of Canadian Provinces and Territories to Limit Flood Risk (August 2020): by Dr. Blair Feltmate, Marina Moudrak and Kathryn Bakos. This report examined the preparedness of provincial and territorial governments to minimize the negative consequences of current and future floods. It is the intent of this report to provide an informed perspective that will contribute to the alleviation of current and future flood and climate-related risks in Canada.
Factoring Climate Risk into Financial Valuation (March 2020): by Dr. Blair Feltmate, Natalia Moudrak, Kathryn Bakos and Brian Schofield. This report presents a practical means to factor climate change and extreme weather risk into financial valuation consistent with direction of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and Canada’s Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance (EPSF). This report will help institutional managers to guide investments, securities commissions to assess disclosure, and credit rating agencies to measure risk by incorporating the impacts of climate change into business analysis.
Offer your Support
Contact Taylor Legere, Manager, for ways to get involved with the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at Intact.Centre@uwaterloo.ca