Climate Change and Air Quality
The town is committed to building resiliency to the changing climate and extreme weather patterns.
Climate emergency declared
At the June 24, 2019, Council meeting, Oakville Town Council passed a motion declaring a climate emergency in Oakville. One year later, the Town of Oakville released the 2019-2020 Climate Emergency Progress Report (pdf) outlining the significant progress the town and community have made towards mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change.
Residents are urged to join in the fight against a climate crisis. Review the Top 10 actions you can do to help reduce Oakville's greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate change in Oakville
Oakville's Climate Change Primer (pdf) provides local information for residents on the science and complexity of climate change with climate projections for southern Ontario and more specifically Oakville. This online document links directly to local information on how to help protect human health, the natural environment, residential homes and properties against the impacts of a changing climate.
Climate Change Adaptation Initiative
The town has been taking inventory of our greenhouse gas emissions and has implemented the climate change mitigation program. Learn more about this and see how you can increase your personal resilience to our changing climate. Protect yourself, your home, family and property.
An increase in the frequency and duration of extreme temperature events such as heat, often accompanied by smog, and extreme cold events pose health and safety risks to town staff and residents. It is important to be aware of appropriate actions and safety measures to take during extreme heat events or on days of poor air quality. The Halton region Health Department issues all heat, smog and cold related warnings to area municipalities who in turn offer relief programs. For more information on how to protect human health in light of temperature extreme and poor air quality visit the Halton Region website.
Heavy precipitation can have devastating effects on our natural and built environments, health and safety as well as recreation and tourism. Observation of changing weather patterns and data projections indicate that more precipitation will fall in shorter periods of time causing personal safety risks, environmental impacts and property damage.
For information on how to prepare for heavy rain and the possibility of flooding visit the town’s webpages on the Town of Oakville's Stormwater Management and Emergency Preparedness or the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction’ s (ICLR) YouTube channel, and Halton Regions Basement Flooding website.
The impacts of an increase in annual temperatures and precipitation are easier to prepare for and adapt to since the change is gradual. Although it may be easier to adapt to these slight increases over time this does not mean that mitigation efforts related to energy and fuel conservation can be stopped, in fact they need to become more aggressive.
An increase in annual average temperatures refers to both summer and winter temperatures. The expected impacts of more highly variable temperatures include:
- Northerly migration of invasive species (pdf) Forest stands hit with extreme weather being more susceptible to pests and disease such as Emerald Ash Borer and Asian Long Horned Beetle
- Changing migration patterns and increase activity of disease vectors (pdf): West Nile Virus, Lyme Disease
- Longer, warmer and more variable growing season (pdf): Resulting in more droughts, heat, more variable crop types and yields
- Variable winter climate and precipitation patterns (pdf): Increased occurrences of freezing rain, sleet, freeze/thaw cycles, spring melt