Many City of Edmonton buildings highly vulnerable to climate risks, report finds

Madeleine Cummings · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 10, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours ago

Hundreds of municipal buildings successful Edmonton are highly susceptible and astatine hazard to climate-related hazards, according to an outer report that has not yet been shared with metropolis council. 

The City of Edmonton hired Stantec Consulting Ltd. successful 2022 to behaviour a clime vulnerability and hazard appraisal for its gathering portfolio and identify which buildings were astir astatine risk.

The December 2023 study concluded that wildfire smoke, aggravated rainfall, dense snowfall, storms, utmost acold and wintertime freeze-thaw airs the highest risks to the city's gathering portfolio for the 2030s. Once a manageable issue, utmost vigor is present becoming a much prevalent risk.

The report, which outgo $400,000 and was funded successful portion by assistance wealth from the provincial government, said that arsenic the clime changes, truthful volition risks to the city's buildings.

The study said the risks dramatically displacement for the portfolio successful the 2050s and 2080s, with the hazard of wildfires, droughts, utmost heat, utmost upwind events and freeze-thaw events increasing. 

The papers predicts that buildings oregon assets surrounded by forests could beryllium susceptible to wildfires, utmost vigor and precocious winds could pb to powerfulness outages and HVAC systems blocked by fume could pb to mediocre indoor aerial quality. 

Other impacts could see flooding, extortion damage, cracked foundations and higher security premiums.

CBC News precocious obtained a transcript of the study done a state of accusation request.

Though the astir at-risk buildings, the costs of retrofits and the costs of inaction were redacted successful the study provided to CBC, a station astir the hazard appraisal connected the Municipal Climate Change Action Centre's website says 39 per cent of assessed structures (or 343 of the city's 884 buildings) request contiguous enactment due to the fact that of their precocious risk, property and condition. 

Mackenzie Boilard, a 19-year-old University of Alberta pupil and subordinate of the assemblage enactment Edmonton Youth for Climate (EYFC), said she worries astir clime alteration damaging municipal buildings to the constituent wherever the nationalist tin nary longer usage them. 

"I privation to beryllium capable to locomotion into a gathering and beryllium comfy and beryllium capable to run and bash my work," she said successful an interrogation this week.

She and Tristan Dell, 24, besides a U of A pupil and EYFC member, work the 2023 study and said the metropolis should beryllium mitigating risks present to debar much dire consequences later. 

"I deliberation that it's casual for radical to benignant of crook their heads distant from it," helium said.

Chris Webster, a communications advisor for the City of Edmonton, said portion 39 per cent of the buildings were initially assessed arsenic being exposed to medium- to high-climate hazard and vulnerabilities implicit the coming decades, galore of the buildings person not been visited to definitively corroborate enactment required. 

WATCH | These Edmonton neighbourhoods are vulnerable to clime change:

He said clime vulnerability hazard assessments would person to beryllium done connected circumstantial sites earlier large renovations take place. 

Webster said Stantec's study tin assistance prioritize buildings for the city's retrofit programme but further assessments volition amended corroborate imaginable clime risks, allowing for the astir due action.

He besides said Stantec has produced a much caller mentation of the report, which is nether review. 

Webster said the metropolis is inactive reviewing the findings from the report, nary actions person been taken and the study has not yet been shared with metropolis council. 

"Any imaginable projects oregon expenditures resulting from this study could beryllium submitted arsenic portion of the 2027-2030 fund process for information and support by metropolis council," helium said.

The study makes much than a twelve recommendations for the City Edmonton, including creating a frozen tube policy, grooming unit to respond to utmost clime events and seeking retired opportunities to divest at-risk and low-value buildings.

The papers besides lists dozens of imaginable adaptation measures, specified as insulation upgrades, greenish extortion design, passive star cooling and ventilation systems, expanding stormwater drainage capableness and providing back-up power.

The study said not adapting the city's buildings to hole for the effects of clime alteration would pb to assets needing to beryllium replaced oregon rehabilitated earlier, accrued operation, superior and attraction costs, and reduced work levels for residents.

Jason Thistlethwaite, an subordinate prof successful the module of situation astatine the University of Waterloo who researches clime hazard management, said municipalities person the astir vulnerability to clime alteration but the slightest magnitude of wealth to mitigate it.

He said determination is simply a statement present among experts that investing successful retrofits present is worthy doing.

"The benefits of investing successful preparedness, mitigation, and defending your assemblage from clime hazard acold outweigh the cost," helium said. 

The study said the costs to retrofit the buildings afloat by 2040 oregon adjacent aboriginal is "beyond disposable revenue-based funding." 

"I spot the presumption they're in, but we request to commencement prioritizing this and not doing concern arsenic usual," said Haley Pukanski, an organizer with the Climate Justice Edmonton collective.

She criticized the city's caller determination to widen the Community Revitalization Levy downtown alternatively of spending the millions of dollars connected clime action.

Ramla Qureshi, an adjunct prof of civilian engineering astatine McMaster University who researches structural resilience against utmost hazards, said based connected her work, adjacent municipalities that person seen buildings damaged by wildfires proceed to physique successful the aforesaid places and don't look to beryllium offloading at-risk structures.

"Even erstwhile cities cognize the hazard and they understand, leaders conscionable don't person the capableness to marque each these changes," she said.

Webster said the bulk of caller municipal buildings since 2008 successful Edmonton person been built to conscionable the LEED Silver greenish gathering standards and that a clime strategy and enactment program guides the city's efforts to behaviour interaction assessments connected buildings, attraction programs, retrofits and caller infrastructure developments.