In June 2019, a Member of Provincial Parliament asked the FAO to analyze the costs that climate change impacts could impose on Ontario’s provincial and municipal infrastructure, and how those costs could impact the long-term budget outlook of the province. In response to this request, the FAO launched its “Costing Climate Impacts to Public Infrastructure” project (CIPI).
In the first phase of the project, the FAO assessed the composition and state of repair of provincial infrastructure and released its findings in November 2020. In the second phase, the FAO conducted a similar assessment of Ontario’s municipal infrastructure, with results released in August 2021.
The purpose of the final phase of the CIPI project is to assess how changes in extreme rainfall, extreme heat and freeze-thaw cycles will impact the public infrastructure costs of provincial and municipal governments in Ontario.