The policy establishes “a…

The policy establishes “a new climate change organization to be a one-window source for leading-edge climate projection data and adaptation information and services.”

Reading the description at https://www.ontario.ca/page/how-were-adapting-climate-change Iam concerned about having a separate organization that focuses on adaptation as opposed to mitigation. So many of the GHG reduction initiatives – which is mitigation – overlap with adaptation.

This does not mean we should not invest heavily on adaptation – we already know that we have locked in many negative impacts from the GHG emissions so far that we need to prepare for.

But I’d hate to see any organization start splitting hairs on actions because they do more for mitigation than adaptation. When it comes to prioritizing investment, which it will do, then one organization should be in place to balance both mitigation and adaptation expenditures. As soon as you create separate organizations, you create competition for funding which would be unhealthy in the case of mitigation vs adaptation.

The Ontario Ministry of Environment & Climate Change should retain the responsibility and role of setting project priorities for both Mitigation and Adaptation and resulting allocation of resources, so that we progress aggressively on both adaptation and mitigation.

[Original Comment ID: 212058]