Track the true costs of extreme weather using a practical and consistent approach.

When an extreme weather event hits, municipalities absorb costs across departments, budgets, and accounts. As a result, councils, finance departments, and emergency management staff often cannot answer a simple question: What did that extreme weather event actually cost us?

This resource provides a simple approach to identify, record, and track weather-related expenses within existing financial systems. By building a consistent record over time, municipalities can better understand the financial toll of extreme weather and support budgeting, investment, and climate adaptation decisions.

In this resource, you’ll find:

• An introduction to climate expense tagging and why it matters;
• Six simple steps to get started in your municipality;
• A case study from the City of Windsor on tracking weather-related expenses; and
• A downloadable, adaptable Excel model with a code book, climate expense sheet, and analysis dashboard.

Explore this resource to learn how your municipality can track the financial impacts of extreme weather and make a stronger case for climate resilience investments.

The Excel model accompanying this resource gives municipalities a practical starting point for climate expense tagging. It is organized into three tabs:

• The Code Book provides the classification structure for tagging, with categories that can be used as-presented, or expanded to reflect your specific context.
• The Climate Expense Sheet contains 22 sample expenses across five hypothetical 2025 weather events.
• The Analysis Dashboard aggregates tagged expenses by hazard type, creating a single view of what extreme weather cost the municipality across the year.

It also includes tips for getting started and adapting the model to fit your municipality’s systems and needs.