Ouranos participated in the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26) during which the consortium was able to discuss and exchange the latest climate science and climate change adaptation knowledge with key players at both the national and international levels.

After presenting the results of the IPCC’s most recent report and the potential impacts of climate change in Quebec to the provincial premier in anticipation of COP26, Ouranos’s executive director subsequently represented the firm in various activities involving Canada’s new Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, Quebec Premier François Legault as well as representatives of Quebec-based organizations attending COP26.  Moreover, Ouranos was called upon to share its expertise by presenting the most recent scientific data and climate outlook for Quebec with representatives of opposition parties present at the event, as well as Minister Benoit Charette and Quebec’s envoy for climate change, Mr. Jean Lemire. This meeting gave rise to in-depth discussions on the issues being faced by Quebec as well as the solutions to be implemented. A key theme in these discussions was climate change adaptation, which sparked the interest of elected officials across party lines.

Attending COP26 was also an opportunity to continue networking with a large number of organizations. A panel organized in partnership with Régions de France and Comité 21 notably offered an occasion to discuss how initiatives are taking shape in jurisdictions with variable characteristics and on variable scales and on the accelerator effect that they are having on public decision-making and the operational implementation of projects. In fact, these regional entities are often referred to as “regional IPCCs.”

Our activities, combined with a certain “disappointment” in the end results of the COP, not to mention major flooding events in British Columbia, mean that adaptation has become an increasingly prominent theme in climate change discussions.

Media presence

Awareness continued to grow not only amongst decision-makers, but also within the media, both in the framework of the COP and in the context of increasingly topical climate-related events.

• Un Québec vulnérable et mal préparé à la crise climatique, Le Devoir 16 nov. 2021

• Se préparer à encaisser la grande claque climatique. La Presse, 17 nov. 2021

• Les changements climatiques affecteront doublement le Québec d’ici dix ans, Puisqu’il faut se lever, 98.5FM, 16 nov. 2021

• Émission spéciale sur l’adaptation aux changements climatiques. Les Années lumières, 31 oct. 2021