Canadians are unknowingly buying homes in climate change danger zones, report finds

Canadians are unknowingly buying and building homes and other infrastructure in areas at high risk of flooding, wildfires and other climate change impacts. That could lead to billions of dollars in damage each year, says a new report from the Canadian Institute for Climate Choices.

Investing in adaptation could slash those costs — but just about no one has the information they need to be able to adapt, according to the report released last week from the federally funded think-tank. 

"There's pretty poor understanding of climate risks and really poor risk-disclosure practices across the country," said Dylan Clark, a senior research associate at the institute and co-author of the report, during a media briefing.

There's little to no public information on current flood, wildfire or permafrost thaw risks, he said, let alone taking into account the future of climate. 

"Information that's readily available to most decision-makers and investors and consumers does not provide enough information to make informed decisions — and that's a key barrier here to adaptation."

For example, publicly available government data from local conservation authorities generally show only areas at risk of flooding due to rivers and coasts, the report said.

Researchers were able to obtain data — available for a fee from a private company, JBA Risk Management — that showed 325,000 buildings in Canada are at risk of flooding from heavy rainfall and another 625,000 are at risk from flooding due to rivers breaching their banks, whose owners "have no way of knowing that their properties are at risk of flooding" the report said.