City of Lethbridge – Climate Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan 

Overview

The City of Lethbridge received $80,000 for the completion of their Climate Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan. 

This project was funded in part by the Government of Alberta, through the Municipal Climate Change Action Centre’s Climate Resilience Capacity Building Program.  

Approach

Lethbridge is located in southern Alberta, approximately 100 km north of the United States border and 200 km west of the border with Saskatchewan. The third largest city in Alberta, Lethbridge is home to approximately 106,550 residents. 

The City of Lethbridge retained Associated Engineering and All One Sky Foundation for the development of the Climate Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan (CASAP).  

The Plan aligns with existing internal and external initiatives and the project was informed by engagement with key stakeholders and residents. 

The City of Lethbridge Municipal Development Plan and the Gateway to Opportunity City Council Action Plan, specifically the goal of being an environmentally responsible city, provided strategic direction and alignment for the Plan.  

The Plan was co-developed with City staff, City Council, representatives from community organizations, and residents through project workshops, presentations, open houses, and online surveys. 

The Plan is based on historical trends and future climate projections for the City of Lethbridge. A climate risk and vulnerability assessment, cost of inaction analysis, and vulnerability mapping were completed to prioritize actions in the Plan that target the highest risks. 

Results

The Climate Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan identifies the greatest climate risks to the community and the highest priority actions to be taken over the next ten years (2024-2034). The Climate Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan provides a foundation to position the community to be resilient to the challenges of climate change and extreme weather. 

The highest climate risks to Lethbridge are extreme heat, drought, ecoregion shift, and grassfires and grassfire/wildfire smoke. These high risks were determined by calculating the likelihood of an event occurring and the consequence of the impact. The consequences of climate hazards were determined through workshops with project stakeholders, which illustrated the local impact to Lethbridge.  

The Plan identifies challenges with respect to water management, emergency preparedness, extreme weather, and changing climate conditions. It evaluates the potential risks across social, natural, built, and economic systems, particularly the disproportionate impacts on vulnerable communities  

The Plan also equips the municipality with priority adaptation actions that both the City of Lethbridge and the community can take to help mitigate the greatest risks. A total of 33 priority actions are organized into eight themes, including:  

• Enabling Initiatives  

• City Emergency Preparedness Planning  

• Healthy, Safe, and Prepared Communities 

• Protecting Critical Infrastructure 

• Resilient Design 

• Water Stewardship 

• Transitioning Landscapes  

• Protecting and Enhancing Nature 

In completing this project, the team learned that this Plan is building off climate adaptation work already being done across the community. While existing initiatives may not be recognized as climate adaptation projects, adaptation efforts are already taking place across the organization and the broader community to build resilience. 

Benefits 

The Climate Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan provides strategic direction to guide decision making on climate action within the organization. 

The community benefits as it strengthens community resilience to climate hazards and risks. The Plan recognizes risks to social, natural, built, and economic systems in Lethbridge and looks to weatherproof assets and services to these extreme weather and climate risks. 

The list of adaptation actions equips the municipality and residents with next steps to better prepare for future climate conditions.  

“The strategy and plan identifies ways we can better weatherproof our City assets and services when an extreme weather event comes our way. The community provided excellent feedback to help us understand what their values and needs are which are reflected in the strategy and action plan we approved today.” 

Blain Hyggen, Mayor