News

A School of Public Health Sciences research team, co-directed by Drs. Craig Janes and Warren Dodd, is to receive more than $1.5 million through the federal government’s New Frontiers in Research Fund, which supports interdisciplinary and transformative research led by Canadians working with international partners. 

The Climate Pedagogy Symposium brought together educators from higher education institutions across the Waterloo region to share innovative approaches to climate change education (CCE). Hosted collaboratively by the Waterloo Climate Institute at the University of Waterloo, Conestoga College, and Wilfrid Laurier University, the event facilitated discussions on decolonizing CCE, active learning strategies, reflective and reflexive teaching, interdisciplinarity, and addressing climate emotions. 

A project with Waterloo Climate Institute Executive Director, Sarah Burch, launched a new pilot experimental project using field research data on community disaster risk and strategies to explore visualizations of possible futures using digital design and augmented reality. The pilot will explore different facets of transformation due to global environmental change and extreme weather events.

Three reports share a snapshot of climate action and opinion at the global, national and local level. The People's Climate Vote 2024, shares insight into global opinions on climate action, while the Pembina Institute's report 'All Together Now' details climate action in Canada, and the GHG Inventory for Waterloo Region shows reductions across GHG contribuint categories.

University of Waterloo researchers, in partnership with universities and key stakeholders in Mauritius, Maldives and Fiji, are co-creators of the Resilience to Climate Vulnerability and Environmental Risk (RECOVER) project, recipients of $1.2 million in funding. Together, they will identify each island’s exposure and risk to climate change and determine scalable strategies to address challenges that impede the availability of resources, materials and critical services, such as food, water, energy and health care. 

Researchers, faculty, students, and staff gathered on May 29th to hear about the transformational changes that have been taking place at the City of Waterloo. Ena Ristic, Senior Sustainability Officer and Sandy Little, Director of Strategy at the City of Waterloo shared how the Corporate Climate Action plan has reshaped how the municipality approaches sustainability and climate action.

Brent Doberstein, Waterloo Climate Institute member and Associate Professor in the Faculty of Environment is the Principal Investigator for a research project awarded $2.5M to study Managed Retreat. Managed retreat (MR), defined as "the purposeful relocation of people, property, and critical infrastructure out of areas vulnerable to recurrent climatic hazards," is emerging as a potentially transformative adaptation approach that offers opportunities for both risk reduction and advancement of social justice. 

Waterloo Climate Institute researchers to receive more than $3.4 million. The funding will help to advance several transformative interdisciplinary projects at Waterloo

PRESS RELEASE - originally posted by Federation of Canadian Municipalities

Municipalities are responsible for over half of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions, making them crucial players in the fight against climate change. But existing gaps in critical climate planning and reporting data can make it challenging to keep the public informed on progress toward net zero by 2050.

A pair of University of Waterloo flood disaster experts have published an analysis on the federal government’s national flood insurance program that finds the proposed plan can do more to make insurance abundant and affordable for Canadian taxpayers.