The need for effective climate action is clear. However, progress is slow and the window of opportunity to avoid the worst impacts of climate change is closing. To address the opportunity from a legal perspective, Queen’s Law brought together legal scholars from Canada and the U.S. for a December 1-2 conference titled “Institutions for Effective Climate Action: An International & Comparative Perspective.”
The main objectives of this research exchange were threefold: to generate a better understanding of how legal institutions may be contributing to lagging climate action across a range of key policy areas; to develop strategies for ways legal institutions might be better leveraged to enhance climate action; and to create community and research connections.
Abstract:
Cherie Metcalf
Institutions, Perceptions & Adaptation to Extreme Climate Risks (with Amanda Nurse)
Until very recently, Canada and other countries around the world have focused on meeting climate mitigation targets under the UN FCCC’s Paris Agreement. While this effort aims to stem the worst predicted effects of climate change, evidence of the impacts of climate change is becoming hard to ignore. A rise in extreme events has led to costly and disruptive destruction from fires, floods, drought, extreme precipitation, and storms. However, countries continue to prioritize mitigation and lag behind in tackling adaptation. Canada released its first national adaptation strategy in November 2022. The goals of this research are two-fold: first, to help explain the current state of adaptation failure and second to suggest strategies that could effectively drive the needed change. The focus is on residential infrastructure and communities, given the vulnerability and costs from threats to peoples’ homes. The paper reviews key adaptation strategies, the policy levers used to implement them, and identifies factors that help explain the lack of progress to date, considering both institutional and perceptual / political barriers. Public support and engagement will be crucial to the successful adaptation policy.
