Integrating Climate Risk into Infrastructure Planning, Policy and Procurement

June 13, 2017
Timothy Eaton Memorial Church, Toronto, ON
 

This one day introductory workshop will provide participants with information about, and practice with, a practical tool and process that systematically assesses the risks of current and future climate on public infrastructure, with a focus on building and water infrastructure.

Between 2007 and 2012, Engineers Canada, in partnership with Natural Resources Canada, developed the PIEVC Engineering Protocol. The Protocol is a structured procedure using standard risk assessment science to assess and fully document the vulnerability of infrastructure to the impacts of current and future climate at a screening level.

Two facilitated group sessions will illustrate real life applications through hands-on, small group exercises to undertake a qualitative, screening- level risk assessment using a case study approach that will include an exercise on developing strategies and recommendations to address the identified vulnerabilities.

This workshop will be of interest to those professionals who are involved in policy, planning, pre-design, design, operation, maintenance, management and regulation of infrastructure and who, now and in the future, need to consider the changing climate for these activities.

The Protocol has been applied to the design of new infrastructure as well as for existing infrastructure in need of rehabilitation or retrofitting. It will also be of relevance to planners, managers and operators to improve their understanding of the impacts and risks that public infrastructure faces with current climate e.g. extreme weather events and future climate. 

The workshop will include a morning coffee break and lunch. Coffee will be available throughout the afternoon sessions. Copies of presentation materials will be provided.

Educational Objectives

Upon completion of the Workshop, participants should:

• Have an increased understanding of the increasing costs and liabilities related to public infrastructure as a result of climate change
• Have an increased understanding of historical climate trends and methods for climate projection  as these pertain to infrastructure,
• Have a basic understanding of risk assessment as applied to infrastructure response to changing climate,
• Have hands-on experience with the application of climate change risk assessment for selected infrastructure examples
• Have first-hand experience at developing strategies and recommendations to address infrastructure climate vulnerabilities
• Insight into the application of the assessment results for infrastructure planning, policy and procurement
• Recognize the benefits of a multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder  team to address the impacts and complexities of climate change on infrastructure

Proposed Agenda

• 8:00 Registration Open
   
• 8:30 Welcome and Opening Remarks
  • ?OMECC
  • Engineers Canada
     
• 8:45 The Need for Infrastructure Climate Risk Assessment
  • D. Lapp, FEC, P.Eng., IRP, Practice Lead, Globalization and Sustainable Development, Engineers Canada
     
• 9:15 Implications of Not Accounting for Climate Change Vulnerabilities
  • Laura Zizzo, Partner, Zizzo Strategy Inc.
     
• 9:45 Climate information for Public Infrastructure Decision-Making
  • H. Auld, M.A., Principal Climate Scientist, Risk Sciences International Inc.
     
• 10:30 Coffee Break and Networking
   
• 10:45 Principles of Risk Assessment and the PIEVC Engineering Protocol
  • D. Lapp, FEC, P.Eng., IRP
     
• 11:30 Case Study #1: Assessment of Three Buildings for Infrastructure Ontario
  • S. Capstick, P.Eng., Golder Associates Ltd.??
    ?
• 12:00 Lunch and Networking
   
• 12:45 Exercise #1 - Infrastructure Component and Climate Parameter Risk Assessment Small Group Discussion
  • D. Lapp, FEC, P.Eng., IRP, and S. Capstick, P.Eng., Co-Facilitators
     
• 1:30 Exercise #1 - De-Brief/ Q&A
  • D. Lapp, FEC, P.Eng., IRP
    ?
• 1:45 Case Study #2: City of Welland Stormwater and Wastewater Infrastructure  Assessment
  • Marvin Ingebrigtsen, P. Eng. - Technical Analyst Infrastructure Programs, Infrastructure Services - Engineering Division, Corporation of the City of Welland
     
• 2:15 Exercise #2 – Developing Strategies and Recommendations for Climate Adaptation
  •  Small Group Discussion
  • D. Lapp, FEC, P.Eng, IRP, and S. Capstick P.Eng., Co-Facilitators
     
• 3:30 Exercise #2 De-Brief
  • D. Lapp, FEC, P.Eng., IRP
     
• 4:00 Climate Risk Assessment for Policy, Planning and Procurement  – A Panel Discussion
  • D. Lapp, FEC, P.Eng., IRP
     
• 4:45 Closing Remarks and Final Q&A
  • OMECC
  • Engineers Canada
     
• 5:00 End of Workshop

Workshop Trainers and Speakers

H. (Heather) Auld , M.Sc. (Meteorology)- . Principal Climate Scientist - Risk Sciences International (RSI), Toronto, ON

Heather retired from the Federal Government in 2011 after spending 32 years in several Environment Canada offices across Canada in Edmonton, Vancouver, Toronto and CFB Trenton. During this time, she worked as a weather forecaster, climatologist, manager, meteorology instructor and climate impacts and adaptation expert and, for many years, was the Associate Director of Environment Canada’s multi-disciplinary Adaptation and Impacts Research Group.

For more than two decades, Heather extensively researched and developed climate and climate change design values supporting the National Building Code of Canada, National Energy Code, hydrological structures and other national infrastructure standards. She has provided forensic analyses and expert testimony support to several notable Canadian disaster inquiries and co-led the development of a national climate hazards web portal supporting disaster management planning in municipalities and provinces. Heather has served on expert climate teams with the World Meteorological Organization, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and represented Canada on delegations to the UN Convention on Biodiversity. She recently helped to lead a delegation of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations to meet with the World Meteorological Organization for discussions on ongoing collaboration. Heather is the author of many peer-reviewed publications and international reports on extreme weather, climate adaptation, engineering climatology, climate change scenarios, and disaster risk reduction.

Heather has participated in and advised on several PIEVC climate risk assessments for Canadian public infrastructures, providing climate information and projections. She was the Canadian climate advisor for two international projects using the PIEVC Engineering Protocol, advising and training staff at the national meteorological organizations in the two countries to compile, and analyze climate data and undertake future climate projections.

L. (Laura) Zizzo B.E.S., J.D.  Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Zizzo Strategy Inc. – Toronto, ON

Laura Zizzo is a lawyer and strategic advisor with over a decade of experience leading organizations towards a low-carbon and climate-adapted future through the application of law and policy. Laura started her legal career with a prominent Bay Street law firm before founding the first law firm in Canada focused on climate change in 2009. She is a frequent writer and speaker on the move to the low-carbon economy and is a leading voice on the legal imperative to adapt to climate change. Laura holds a degree in Environmental Studies (BES) from the University of Waterloo and a law degree (JD) from University of Toronto.

Laura has significant experience environmental legal issues including complex environmental transactions, litigations and securities issues. Laura provides strategic advice to clients related to sustainability, climate change and related matters. Recent projects include a study of municipal and public sector liability associated with climate change, legal requirements to better manage and report environmental and climate risks and the current state of understanding on climate adaptation in Canada’s electricity sector.

She is co-founder of the Climate Change Lawyers Network, a member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) committee on Environmental Law, an executive member of the Ontario Bar Association’s Environmental Law section and is a volunteer presenter for The Climate Reality Project. Laura regularly writes and speaks on climate change law and policy issues.

S. Capstick, P.Eng. Principal Golder Associates Ltd. , Toronto, ON

Sean Capstick is a Principal in Golder in the Greater Toronto Area with 23 years of environmental consulting and government experience.  Sean is directing a number of climate change studies on public/private infrastructure for government and private clients.  He leads interdisciplinary technical teams that are assessing client’s vulnerabilities on existing infrastructure and is working under the Environmental Impact Assessment framework to develop robust project design including a Public Infrastructure Engineering Vulnerability Committee (PIEVC) assessment of pubic three buildings in Ontario.   He is working on the developed climate change data sets to help understand how climate change may impact infrastructure.

M.(Marvin) Ingebrigtsen, P. Eng. - Technical Analyst Infrastructure Programs, Infrastructure Services - Engineering Division, Corporation of the City of Welland, ON

Marvin is a Professional Engineer, obtaining a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the University of Guelph, specializing in Water Resource Engineering.

Marvin has been employed by the City of Welland since 2005. From 2005 to 2010 Marvin held the position of Construction Services Supervisor and now currently holds the position of Technical Analyst Infrastructure Programs, responsible for the asset management of the city’s infrastructure. 

Prior to his joining the City of Welland, Marvin spent approximately eleven years in the Consulting Engineering field involved primarily with the design and construction of municipal drainage, capital and private development projects.

D. (David) Lapp, FEC, P.Eng., IRP, Practice Lead, Globalization and Sustainable Development - Engineers Canada - Ottawa, ON

David graduated with a degree in geological engineering from the University of Toronto in 1978.  After nearly 20 years working as a consulting engineer in Canada’s Arctic region, he joined Engineers Canada in July 1997. 

David’s national and international work focuses on infrastructure, environment, sustainability and climate change issues and their impact on the practice of engineering.  This includes managing the development of practice guidance to engineers in these areas. Since 2005, he has led a national project to assess the engineering vulnerability of public infrastructure to the impacts of a changing climate, making presentations and giving courses all around the world. This project developed the infrastructure climate risk assessment tool known as the PIEVC Protocol, which has been applied to a variety of infrastructure systems across Canada and internationally.

He is also responsible for Engineers Canada’s Infrastructure Resilience Professional (IRP) program, which trains and certifies professional engineers as having the expertise to plan, design and manage resilient infrastructure in the face of a changing climate. David was one of the first recipients of the Infrastructure Resilience Professional certification, received in June 2016.

David also completed an 8-year assignment with the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO) Standing Committee on Engineering and the Environment in December 2015. He is a Fellow of Engineers Canada, a designation that honours leadership and noteworthy service to the profession.This one day introductory workshop will provide participants with information about, and practice with, a practical tool and process that systematically assesses the risks of current and future climate on public infrastructure, with a focus on building and water infrastructure.

Between 2007 and 2012, Engineers Canada, in partnership with Natural Resources Canada, developed the PIEVC Engineering Protocol. The Protocol is a structured procedure using standard risk assessment science to assess and fully document the vulnerability of infrastructure to the impacts of current and future climate at a screening level.

Two facilitated group sessions will illustrate real life applications through hands-on, small group exercises to undertake a qualitative, screening- level risk assessment using a case study approach that will include an exercise on developing strategies and recommendations to address the identified vulnerabilities.

This workshop will be of interest to those professionals who are involved in policy, planning, pre-design, design, operation, maintenance, management and regulation of infrastructure and who, now and in the future, need to consider the changing climate for these activities.

The Protocol has been applied to the design of new infrastructure as well as for existing infrastructure in need of rehabilitation or retrofitting. It will also be of relevance to planners, managers and operators to improve their understanding of the impacts and risks that public infrastructure faces with current climate e.g. extreme weather events and future climate. 

The workshop will include a morning coffee break and lunch. Coffee will be available throughout the afternoon sessions. Copies of presentation materials will be provided.