A guidance document on understanding climate change information for standards development guidance

All regions of Canada are experiencing environmental, social, and economic impacts that can be attributed to climate change. Adapting standards to ensure infrastructure is climate resilient is critical for Canada and its citizens. Standards can specify performance and material requirements that can be used as the integration point for climate-related risks into infrastructure planning and development processes.

Through funding announced in Budget 2016, SCC is working with Canada’s national standardization network to develop and implement standardization solutions that boost infrastructure resilience and create stronger communities for Canadians. SCC’s Standards to Support Resilience in Infrastructure Program aims to ensure the effectiveness of standards to address climate risks in the design, planning and management of Canadian infrastructure. To accomplish this, the Program is facilitating the development, over a five-year period from 2016 to 2020, of a new toolbox of resources and standardized guidance related to climate change and climate resilience to support both standards users and developers. In parallel, the Program is updating existing and developing new standards to enhance climate resilience for all of Canada while also developing new standards specifically for northern infrastructure.

Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) are responsible for the development of standards, and for ensuring that the process follows international best practices. SDOs convene a balanced committee of stakeholders, who are subject matter experts, to develop standards through a consensus-based process. Subject matter experts are knowledgeable in their field, but may not have experience in accessing, understanding, and applying information from climate change models and future projections. Empowering these experts to consider climate change in the development of standards is fundamental to incorporating climate risks in standardization.

In November 2017, SCC established the Standards Development Organizations for Climate Resilient Infrastructure Working Group (SDO CRI WG). This group provides input and advice to the Standards to Support Resilience in Infrastructure Program. It includes representatives from Canadian Standards Development Organizations as well as federal government departments. The SDO CRI WG has been instrumental in developing two projects to build the capacity of standards writers. The first project is a guidance document on addressing climate change adaptation in Canadian standards (Canadian Guide for addressing climate change adaptation in standards), which draws inspiration from the European CEN-CENELEC Guide 32^[1]. SCC has engaged Mantle314 to complete this work, with publication expected in spring 2020. The second project is the subject of this contract.

The Understanding climate change information for standards development guidance document (hereafter “the guidance document”) will be part of SCC’s toolbox of resources and standardized guidance. The guidance document will be published by SCC and is intended to be used voluntarily by SDOs when addressing climate change considerations. It is expected that this document will be promoted for use by technical committees of SCC-accredited SDOs and other standards writers in Canada, and may be referenced as an item to consider when drafting or revising standards and other documents.

[1] CEN-CENELEC, Guide 32: Guide for Addressing Climate Change Adaptation in Standards (Brussels: CEN-CENELEC, 2016).