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Climate

Adapting to our changing climate and its impacts

Helping to protect Canadians and build resilient communities

Climate change is a threat to our shared future. It is also having a serious and growing impact on the safety of Canadians and the resilience of our communities today. More frequent and severe floods, wildfires, hailstorms and windstorms — driven by a changing climate — are causing billions of dollars in damage and putting people and property at risk.

Severe weather losses are rising across Canada, with insured damage increasing substantially over the last decade. Between 2006 and 2015, insured losses from catastrophic weather events and wildfires totalled $14 billion (adjusted for inflation). By comparison, between 2016 and 2025, annual insured losses reached $37 billion – nearly triple the total of the previous decade. Over the same period, the average number of claims nearly doubled.

More must be done to protect Canadians, their families and their property.

IBC advocates for stronger resilience measures to help Canadians adapt to climate change and mitigate future disaster risks.

IBC’s Three-Point Resilience Plan

In 2025, following the worst year for catastrophic weather events in Canada’s history, IBC released its three‑point resilience plan, which outlines clear priorities for governments to better protect communities across the country. The plan calls on governments to:

  1. Stop putting people in harm's way by keeping new development out of high-risk areas and updating building codes to better withstand severe weather.

  2. Invest in resilience and reduce community risk by strengthening hazard mapping and building public infrastructure that can withstand extreme weather.

  3. Close protection gaps driven by a changing climate by supporting risk-based pricing through public-private partnerships and avoiding harmful market interventions.

As the voice of Canada's property and casualty insurers, IBC has played – and continues to play – a key role on numerous government bodies and task forces. Today, IBC is recognized as a leading advocate for government action to reduce climate-related risks and better protect Canadians, their homes and their communities.

Explore our Work

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IBC InBrief: 2024 Summer of Catastrophe across Canada

One-year Claims Update on an Unprecedented Year of Disaster

The summer of 2024 was unprecedented in terms of catastrophic weather. Four events in just five weeks over the summer accounted for over $8 billion in insured losses. According to estimates from Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. (CatIQ), last year’s total insured losses surpassed $9.2 billion, shattering the previous annual record of $6 billion in 2016.

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State of the Home Insurance Market: Healthy but Pressure Is Building

A three-point plan for policymakers to make Canada a world leader in resilience outlines the many policy solutions – some new, many already in the works – that will help ensure a healthy personal property insurance market for Canadians into the future.

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IBC InBrief: Lessons for Canadian policymakers from the California insurance crisis

This report outlines the impacts of the January 2025 California wildfires on the state’s policyholders and highlights the combination of factors that led to the crisis: in short, growing catastrophic risk (in particular, wildfire risk), delayed and inadequate resilience measures by governments, and restrictions that prevented insurers from accurately pricing risk.

With significant wildfire risks facing Canada, this report draws lessons for Canadian policymakers aimed at fostering a more resilient country and ensuring the continued sustainability of Canada’s home insurance market.

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New Report: Canada is becoming an increasingly riskier place to live, work and insure

Emissions reduction has become synonymous with fighting climate change but is an inadequate strategy on its own because it only provides long-term results. Canadian governments must do more today to directly protect Canadians and their communities from the current impacts of natural disasters, which have already been exacerbated by climate change.

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Canadians need flood protection

Flooding is Canada’s greatest climate threat and puts millions of Canadians at risk each year. By funding the National Insurance Flood Program, the federal government can protect those at the greatest risk. The time is now.

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Climate Proof Canada

To protect Canadians from the impacts of climate change takes more than just reducing emissions. We also need to prepare our communities now from ever increasing severe weather events, like floods and wildfires. Immediate protection. Long term change. Together they make climate change action work.

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The Cost of Climate Adaptation

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and IBC have partnered on a new report that demonstrates the urgent need for new investments in local climate adaptation – and the areas where that investment is needed most.

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The Essential Role of Adaptation in the Climate Crisis

As global temperatures rise, Canada must respond in two ways – by adapting to the changing climate to keep its citizens and communities out of harm’s way now, and by reducing its carbon footprint to help slow and even reverse the warming trends over time.

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A Primer on Severe Weather and Overland Flood Insurance in Canada

Every day in every community, Canadians face risk of harm from climate change. Every uptick in insurance claims costs or government disaster assistance payouts represents hundreds or thousands of lives disrupted, precious possessions lost and human suffering. Insurers see themselves as partners with governments and individual Canadians in a whole-of-society approach to managing risk, including those risks brought on by our changing climate. We all have a role to play in ensuring that everyone is prepared and protected.