Climate Risk Assessment and Climate Adaptation

Approach

Climate change is upon us and is changing how weather impacts our communities. To prepare our communities for a future climate, risk assessments that incorporate climate projections can be used to support climate adaptation planning. Your climate risk assessment project requires a team of specialists who understand risk, climate science, and climate projections, but who are also comfortable wading into uncertainty. Our team brings together scientists, engineers, and data analysts who are adept at number crunching and at presenting climate information in a way that supports decision-making for climate adaptation.

We work through a standard process based on principles of ISO 31000 to layer information on the character of the hazard and exposed and vulnerable elements to establish the consequences and risks of these interacting. We spend time talking to our networks and researching to find the most suitable climate projections to support each project, dependent on available data, primary climate drivers, local geography, etc. We do not use canned data sets and software on purpose; instead we apply bespoke methods based on the project needs.

Using risk as a base, we provide actionable solutions to support climate adaptation. We work with communities to develop decision-processes that draw in local community values and information, community projections for development and population change, as well as future climate hazards and risk to determine preferred pathways for climate adaptation. Working with specialist facilitators and planners, we develop processes to support decision-making using a big toolbox of methods (e.g., structure decision-making, robust decision-making, scenario planning, etc.).

Our reporting takes the form of concise and understandable summaries for decision-makers, as well as detailed technical reports to document our methodologies and assumptions and to enable future experts to quickly pick up the thread.

Tools

QGIS
R and Python Programming Codes

Methodology

We constantly seek best practice guidance from around the world—and support its development at home in Canada through our advisory roles on many Federal and Provincial committees related to climate change and climate adaptation. This forms the basis of our climate risk methods, which are ever-evolving to meet the needs of our clients.

We use open-source, non-proprietary tools for our analysis. We strongly believe in the use of open-source tools, and working and exchanging within a collaborative open-source community. We also follow repeatable science-based principles, ensuring that each step of our analysis is meticulously documented, either in programming code, or via detailed readme documents. We further employ strict quality control, where each technical output step is reviewed and signed off by senior engineers and scientists.

Outcomes

Communities that partner with Ebbwater can expect an open, collaborative approach that is technically robust, grounded in best practice, and will reflect your community’s individual needs. At the end of the project, you will have a clear and more holistic understanding of what is at risk in your community with climate change, and what are preferred pathways for climate adaptation. This will be communicated in our easy-to-understand reports, maps, and graphics.

Testimonials

Over the course of 3 years of working with Ebbwater Consulting…, I have been impressed by their genuine enthusiasm and deep knowledge of flood risk and climate adaptation. I would be very happy to recommend Ebbwater as a consultant.

– Doug Smith
Acting Director, Sustainability Group, City of Vancouver

… Ebbwater has been instrumental in supporting the CVRD as we navigate the complexity of managing coastal flooding throughout the region. They have led an effective and comprehensive stakeholder engagement process to build a shared understanding and approach to mitigate risk and adapt to impacts related to climate change. Their expertise, organization and innovative approach has been key to the success of our project and the capacity building process.

– Robyn Holme
Long Range Planner, CVRD

Trusted by

From institutions at any level, from the Federal Government of Canada to rural municipalities, to private real estate developers—we’re trusted to bring a community-focused lens to flood management planning.