Climate Action Committee March 13, 2020 Presentations

Lower Mainland Flood Management Strategy

Metro Vancouver’s Climate Action CommitteeMarch 13, 2020 – Fraser Basin Council

4.1

Climate Action Committee

• Charitable, non-profit organization• To advance sustainability across BC• Board of Directors (38): four orders of

government, private sector and civilsociety interests

• Role: impartial convener and facilitator• Role: to assist in resolution of complex,

inter-jurisdictional sustainability issues• Areas of Focus: climate change, water,

and sustainable communities andregions

• E.g., flood management and riskreduction

Fraser Basin Council


FBC and Metro Vancouver• One of eight Regional Districts to appoint a local

government member to the FBC Board ofDirectors and provide financial support towardregionally relevant projects and programs

• Project-specific engagement of municipal andMetro Vancouver staff and elected officials onprojects of common interest such as:• Flood Management• Electric Vehicles and Charging Stations• Salmon Safe• And more


Flood Risk in the Lower Mainland• Growth and development in flood vulnerable areas• Flood consequences would be widespread• Flood planning and management involves many jurisdictions• Funding is ad hoc, insufficient, unpredictable, and inconsistent• Climate change is projected to increase the size and frequency of floods• A collaborative and regional-scale approach is needed along with more

substantial investment in flood risk reduction


Aims to reduce flood risk and increase resilience for communities along the Lower Fraser River and South Coast

Coastal Storm surge

(winter flood)

Fraser River freshet

(spring flood)

Lower Mainland Flood Management Strategy


Flood Strategy Partners and ParticipantsGovernment of CanadaProvince of BC • Min. of Public Safety & Solicitor General (Emergency Management BC)• Min. of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development• Min. of Transportation and Infrastructure; Environment and Climate Change Strategy;

AgricultureLocal Governments• ~26 municipalities and 2 regional districts from Hope to the Salish SeaFirst Nations• working to support and engage participation of ~30 First Nations from Hope to the

Salish SeaOther Regional Interests • Greater Vancouver Gateway Council, Port of Vancouver, Vancouver International

Airport Authority, TransLink, Insurance Bureau of Canada, railways, universities andmore Climate Action Committee

Lower Mainland Flood Forum



RISKER TRIANGLE

Global Facility for Disaster Risk

Reduction 2016Climate Action Committee

RISKER TRIANGLE

Climate Change

TargetedDevelopment

Future VulnerabilityInvestment in

ResilienceClimate Action Committee

Values and Principles to Guide the Flood Strategy

Building a better understanding of:• Flood hazards – more and bigger Fraser and coastal

floods with climate change• Flood vulnerabilities – 300,000 people displaced,

$20-30 Billion in projected losses• Flood protection infrastructure, policies and

practices – most dikes don’t meet provincialstandards for height and seismic resilience

Phase 1 of the Strategy (2014-2016)


Values and Principles to Guide the Flood Strategy

Developing:• Vision (regional, collaborative, sustainable,

adaptive)• Regional priorities from national, provincial,

regional, and local perspectives• Recommended risk reduction actions for diverse

local circumstances• Recommendations for funding and decision-makingPhase 3 – Implementation

Phase 2 of the Strategy (2016-2020)


• Changing climate is projected to increase magnitude and frequency of Fraser River and coastal flooding

What about climate change?

• Sea level projected to rise on average by 0.5 m by 2050, 1 m by 2100, 2 m by 2200

o Uncertainty about the rate and magnitude of rise

o Uncertainty about future intensity of storm surges

• Hydrological changes in the Fraser River Basin (snowpack, rate of snowmelt and incidence of rainfall)


Flood Scenario Residential Commercial IndustrialPublic/

Institutional Buildings

Interrupted Cargo

Shipments

Infra-structure Agriculture Total

A. CoastalPresent Day $5.6 B $6.3 B $1.6 B $720 M $3.6 B $1.4 B $100 M $19.3 B

B. CoastalYear 2100 $7.1 B $8.6 B $2.6 B $910 M $3.6 B $1.8 B $200 M $24.7 B

C. RiverPresent Day $2.6 B $3.8 B $1.6 B $880 M $7.7 B $4.6 B $1.6 B $22.9 B

D. RiverYear 2100 $6.6 B $7.6 B $2.9 B $1.2 B $7.7 B $5.0 B $1.6 B $32.7 B

Regional Assessment of Flood VulnerabilitiesTotal Economic Loss Projections


Flood Modeling and Mapping


50-yr Flood50-yr Flood (2% AEP)


Recurrence of 1894 Flood (>500-yr)Recurrence of 1894 Flood (>500-yr)


500-yr Flood, CC projection to year 2100 (1 m SLR and higher Fraser peak flow)500-yr Flood, CC projection to year 2100

(1 m SLR and higher Fraser peak flow)


How to identify priorities? Flood Risk Assessment• People

• Critical infrastructure

• Building-related losses

• Economic impacts

• Environmental impacts

• Social and cultural impacts

• Agricultural / food security impacts

• Other


Risk Reduction Options to Consider• Land use planning and floodplain

regulation• Floodproofing (flood construction levels)• Dikes, floodwalls and related infrastructure

(shoreline dikes, setback dikes, superdikes, pumps, floodgates, etc.)

• Upstream storage• Sediment removal• Nature-based solutions (living dikes,

beach nourishment)• Other (e.g. emergency response and

recovery, insurance, disaster assistance,and more)


Thank you. Questions and Comments?

Fraser Basin Council

Steve Litke, Director Frances Woo, Program [email protected] [email protected]

Havan Surat, Program Manager Natalie Elster, Asst. Program [email protected] [email protected]

www.floodstrategy.ca

37790204 Climate Action Committee

mailto:[email protected]




http://www.floodstrategy.ca

Health Impacts of Residential Wood Smoke

Michael Brauer

School of Population and Public Health

Metro Vancouver Climate Action Committee, October 4, 2017

4.2


Air pollution and health

• Ambient air pollution (individual) risk is small…but large exposed population = large population risk

• Diseases impacted by air pollution have other causes…

• …Air pollution as a contributing risk factor

2Climate Action Committee

Air pollution and health

• On days with worse air quality, more people die*

• In more polluted cities, people die earlier than in less polluted cities…

• …and, in the most polluted areas of cities, there is an increased risk of dying

Larrieu et al. Am J Epidemiol, 2009

*out-of-hospital, >65 yrsClimate Action Committee

BC Lung air quality and health workshop 2016

Beyond the heart and lungs


• 1 km satellite-based estimates + surface measurements

• 2.4 million non-immigrant 25-90 year olds• 10 year follow-up

Associations between fine particulate matter and mortality in the 2001 Canadian Census Health and Environment Cohort. Environ Research. Lauren L Pinault, Scott Weichenthal, Daniel L Crouse, Michael Brauer, Anders Erickson, Aaron van Donkelaar,Randall V Martin, Perry Hystad8 Hong Chen, Philippe Finès, Jeffrey R Brook, Michael Tjepkema, Richard T Burnett.

Non-accidental IHD

Cerebrovascular COPD

pneumonia Lung cancer

Environ Res. 2017 Aug 26;159:406-415. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2017.08.037

No evidence of threshold


BC State of the Air Report

Shaddick et al., 2018; Environment Canada; BC Lung 2018

92% global population in areas exceeding WHO Air Quality Guideline (10 μg/m3 PM2.5annual average)

Metro Vancouver is among the least

polluted regions in one of the cleanest parts of the world


CANADA (2017)

6,600 deaths/yr PM2.5 1300 deaths/yr ozone

Health Canada (2019 estimates) 14,600 deathsPM2.5: 9,700NO2: 940Ozone: 4,000

$114 BillionBC: 1,600 deaths$11.5 Billion

…but air pollution still has large impacts

on our healthClimate Action Committee

8

Residential wood burning

Industry

Non-road

Marine

Motor vehicles

Other

…and residential woodsmoke is our largest sourceand the source with the least improvement over time

Residential WoodBurning

Industry

Marine

Non-Road

Light Duty Vehicles

Heavy Duty Vehicles

All Other Sources

PM2.5 Emissions (tonnes)



Woodsmoke & health in Metro Vancouver

• 15% increase in babies born at low birthweight +

• 32% increase in ear infections++

• 8% increase in bronchiolitis+

• 15% increase in COPD hospitalization+

• No associations with:– pre-term birth-

– asthma incidence-

– cardiovascular, COPD mortality-

MacIntyre EA et al., Exposure to residential air pollution and otitis media during the first two years of life. Epidemiology. 2011 Jan;22(1):81-9.; Karr CJ et al.,Influence of ambient air pollutant sources on clinical encounters for infant bronchiolitis. Am J Resp Crit Care Med, 2009, 180(10):995-1001.; Clark NA et al.,Effect of early life exposure to air pollution on development of childhood asthma. Environ Health Perspect 2010, 188(2): 118:284-290; Gan W et al., Associations of Ambient Air Pollution with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Hospitalization and Mortality. Am J Resp Crit Care Med. 2013. 187(7):721-7. ; Gehring et al., Epidemiology 2014. 25(3):351-8.

++ > traffic pollution, + ~traffic, - <traffic

10Climate Action Committee

Woodsmoke and heart attack hospitalization in BC

On cold days and days with highest biomass contribution:19% increased risk of heart attack

For each 5 µg/m3

increase in 3-day mean PM2.5 6.0% increased risk of MI among elderly subjects (≥ 65 years)

Weichenthal S et al. Biomass Burning as a Source of Ambient Fine Particulate Air Pollution and Acute Myocardial Infarction.Epidemiology. 2017 May;28(3):329-337. doi: 10.1097/EDE.0000000000000636.Climate Action Committee

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28177951

Yap PS, Garcia C. Effectiveness of residential wood-burning regulation on decreasing particulate matter levels and hospitalizations in the San Joaquin Valley Air Basin. Am J Public Health. 2015 Apr;105(4):772-8. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2014.302360.

PM2.5 Reductions 12% (11% rural, 15% urban)

Adults > 65 yrsPrevent 7% of CVD and 16% of IHD admissions

California Rule 4901New sales/property transfer - Certified stoves/Pellet stoves.

No fireplaces

No burn days

No sale of used heaters


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25713937

Combustion source Emissions (mg/MJ) Composition

Open fireplace 160 – 910

Conventional woodstove

50 – 2100

Conventional log boilers

50 – 2000(50 – 250)

‘Modern” woodstoveslog/chip boilers

34 – 3305 – 450

Pellet stoves/boilers 10 - 5013

MORE TOXIC

LESS TOXIC

adapted from: Kocbach Bølling et al 2009Climate Action Committee

• ~39% reduction in winter PM10• ↓ winter cardiovascular (-19.6%) and respiratory (-27.9%) mortality• Similar decreases not observed in control community

Evaluation of interventions to reduce air pollution from biomass smoke on mortality in Launceston, Australia: retrospective analysis of daily mortality, 1994-2007. Johnston FH, Hanigan IC, Henderson SB, Morgan GG. BMJ. 2013

Tasmania woodstove → electricity


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23299843

Thank you!Questions?

[email protected]


Addressing GHG Intensity of BuildingsCLIMATE ACTION COMMITTEEErik BlairAIR QUALITY PLANNER, AIR QUALITY & CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY

Climate Action Committee, March 13, 2020

Photo courtesy of naturallywood.com

5.2


Call on the Province to develop a consistent approach that can be adopted by local governments to set greenhouse gas limits for new buildings toward achieving a zero carbon building sector, and develop complementary requirements in the proposed “Retrofit Code”.

Recommendation

Photo courtesy of eighthavenue.ca Climate Action Committee

Metro Vancouver Climate Targets


Emissions from Buildings


BC Energy Step Code


Local Government Approaches to Reduce GHGs

Local Government Solutions

• 2-Tier requirement for large buildings

• 2-Tier requirement for small buildings

• Net-zero 2-Tier requirement for all buildings

• Low Carbon Buildings Development Permit Area

Provincial Requirement

• Complimentary to Step Code• Consistent across province• Modeled on proven approach


• February 25, Council endorsed UBCM Resolution:• Call on Province to include GHG performance requirements

for new construction• Previously submitted in 2019, saw southeastern BC support, but not

endorsed due to concerns from northern and rural communities• 2020 resolution asks for northern and rural liaising to address

unique circumstances• Resolution submitted for LMLGA Conference May 6-8

Port Moody UBCM Resolution


• Reducing GHG emissions from existing buildings is much larger challenge

• Province initiated process to develop “retrofit code” for existing buildings

• Engagement to begin 2020• Completion of code 2024

• Critical opportunity to introduce GHG reductions in existing buildings through transition of heat and hot water systems to low/zero carbon

Retrofit Code for Existing Buildings


Questions?


Documents

Climate Action Committee March 13, 2020 Presentations