Understand the Costs and Revenue Potential of Housing and Infrastructure Decisions

As the costs of climate impacts continue to increase, municipalities need to invest where it makes the most sense—both for building resilience and seizing returns on their housing and infrastructure investments. The Canadian Climate Institute reports that Canadian municipalities are set to bear more than $81 billion in added lifecycle costs from climate impacts to public infrastructure. Statistics Canada has found that eight of the ten most costly weather events in Canada occurred after 2013. What’s more, this statistic does not account for 2026—a year in which Canadian communities have already coped with extreme heat, wildfires, flooding, storms, and more.

“With the increasing threat of climate challenges, our Government is working with partners to build the tools and resources needed to integrate climate considerations,” says the Honourable Gregor Robertson, Minister of Housing and Infrastructure and Minister responsible for Pacific Economic Development Canada. “The Climate Insight platform continues to help communities across the country protect their homes and infrastructure, building a strong Canada.”

Account for long-term costs, savings, and impacts

Make more informed decisions with Climate Insight’s newest tool, the Land Use Impact Calculator (LUIC). Assess the long-term impacts of proposed residential developments in terms of infrastructure costs incurred, municipal revenues collected, and greenhouse gas emissions produced.

What’s more, the LUIC accounts not only for residential developments themselves, but also for related housing-supportive infrastructure. Communities can create, save, and compare development scenarios to make the best long-term decisions.

“Canadians need housing, which means communities need tools to make informed, prudent housing decisions,” says Ewa Jackson, Managing Director of ICLEI Canada. “Climate Insight’s new Land Use Impact Calculator connects these dots, so that you can compare your options and keep the big picture in mind.”

Finding the right tools for the job

The LUIC is the newest in Climate Insight’s portfolio of custom-made, vetted tools. A new toolbox page makes it easier to find all of the platform’s built-in tools, including its climate-smart home explorer, rapid risk assessment tool, baseline emissions calculator, and more.

Use it to quickly find reliable, usable, and vetted tools to help build low-carbon, resilient housing and infrastructure in your community. Plus, additional tags in the platform’s library make it easier to sort through its wealth of resources—before, alongside, or after using Climate Insight’s tools.

“Because Climate Insight’s tool are designed to be user-friendly and supported by high-quality data, it made it really easy for me to work [through risk assessment] with colleagues across the City’s different departments,” vouches Becky Raddatz, Manager, Office of Sustainability, City of Winnipeg.”

Supporting Canadian communities

Climate Insight is constantly updated to best meet the needs of Canadian communities. Based on user demand, the platform’s interactive map now includes a number of new data and layers related to roads, utilities, and buildings. This helps communities make holistic planning decisions, and consider intersections of equity, infrastructure, and climate variability.

Be Part of Climate Insight’s Evolution

Share your feedback to be part of the platform’s constant evolution. In no more than five minutes, use our feedback form to tell us how Climate Insight is working for you and what could be improved. The platform continuously evolves to meet user needs—so tell us what you think to be part of that journey.

A Canadian toolkit for climate-ready housing and infrastructure

The Government of Canada launched the Climate Toolkit for Housing and Infrastructure to support communities with building future-ready, energy efficient housing and infrastructure. Climate Insight is one of three services available in this Toolkit, which also includes the Climate-Ready Infrastructure Service that connects local governments and housing organizations with project-specific solutions from technical experts; and the Regional Capacity-Building Support, where communities can receive free support with asset management, resilience planning, and navigating funding opportunities.

Climate Insight is a free online platform that provides relevant, actionable data and information on building low-carbon, resilient housing and infrastructure. Its resources and diverse functionalities help decision-makers, municipalities, housing providers, developers, and infrastructure professionals build for the future.

Visit ClimateInsight.ca to see how its free tools and resources can save you time and money.

Climate Insight is delivered by ICLEI Canada with support from Housing, Infrastructure, and Communities Canada, and is funded in part by the Government of Canada.