Climate change could cost Ontario billions as planet heats up: watchdog

The Financial Accountability Office of Ontario released a report Wednesday outlining how the effects of climate change could cost Ontario billions of dollars every year.

Ontario’s financial watchdog is repeating warnings that the province’s roads, hospitals and other infrastructure are vulnerable to the high costs of climate change if significant changes are not made.

The Financial Accountability Office of Ontario (FAO) released a report Wednesday outlining how the province could need to spend billions of dollars more every year as the effects of climate change bite.

Infrastructure in Ontario ranges from buildings like hospitals to highways, bridges or sewage pipes.

In a situation where the province does not begin to proactively plan and build for the extreme weather events likely to become more common with climate change, the watchdog estimates infrastructure could cost an extra $4.1 billion per year.

Proactive planning and adaptation, however, could save more than a billion dollars and leave the annual costs of climate change on infrastructure closer to $3 billion, the report said.

The report is based on a scenario where the global temperatures rise to around 2.3 C higher than pre-industrial averages.

The FAO estimated that infrastructure costs will rise around $2 billion per year for every degree the temperature rises above a 0.5 C baseline increase for the rest of the century.

Climate change will also bring more intense heat and rainfall but fewer freeze-thaw cycles, the FAO report predicts.