This article is taken from the special issue of Le Figaro “D’Est en Ouest – Vivre au Canada”, available on the Figaro Store.
On June 29, 2021, the small village of Lytton, British Columbia, made history for setting a disastrous record, that of the highest temperature ever recorded in Canada: 49.6 degrees. In question, a heat dome, a large mass of hot air trapped on the ground for several days in a row, which resulted in scorching temperatures throughout western North America. On June 30, the day after this record was set, a fire broke out in the nearby forests of Lytton, and within hours the village was wiped off the map. Everything happened so quickly that the approximately 300 inhabitants barely had time to escape before their homes were ravaged by fire…
The episode marked the whole world, but as the climatologists then underlined, it is only a foreshadowing of what awaits many regions of the planet in the very next few years. And in this looming battle, Canada is particularly exposed: according to an Environment Canada report published in 2019, the country is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet. The northern regions, the Prairies, and northern British Columbia are particularly affected by the rise in temperature. In these regions, the average temperature has thus increased by 1.7 degrees since 1948, when it took “only” 0.8 degrees on average on the planet, over the same period. And as if that were not enough, the same report indicates that precipitation has increased in winter, increasing the risk of flooding, especially in Manitoba, Ontario, northern Quebec and on the Atlantic coasts. In addition, several cities are threatened by coastal erosion and rising seas, such as Vancouver, on the Pacific coast, 150 kilometers as the crow flies from Lytton, which is one of the most exposed major Canadian cities. to the rising waters.
Even if awareness of these upheavals is slow to arise (in Canada as in most other countries), climate change is already having consequences for the Canadian economy. For example, a report by the Climate Institute of Canada published in September 2022 suggests that in 2025, GDP growth will be halved, due to the collateral costs of climate change. For this reason, investing in adaptation to climate change could be very profitable: according to this report, 1 dollar invested in adaptation would return 13 to 15.
According to another study by Climate Choice, the costs of damage to residences caused by flooding, on the coast or inland, could be multiplied by 3 to 4 times compared to current costs within 30 years – or, if 45 % of Canadians think they are well covered against these risks by their insurance, only 10 to 15% really are… The importance of thinking carefully before investing in real estate in Canada, whether it is the location of his property or his insurance.
If global warming is increasing twice as fast in Canada as on the rest of the planet, it is also one of the most polluting countries. In particular, it has the worst per capita average of all G20 countries in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. The world’s fourth largest oil producer, Canada has also seen its oil and gas activity increase by 74% between 1990 and 2020, despite the country’s commitment at COP26 in 2021 to reduce its GHG emissions. 40 to 45% by 2030. S.C.
