Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Plan

Project Update, May 6, 2026:

The City has launched the second round of community engagement for the Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Plan!

The project team has developed a draft structure of the plan and draft solutions, including themes, goals, strategies, and actions, using the feedback you shared in the first round of engagement, as well as technical research. Now, we want to hear from you again to help ensure the draft plan reflects the needs of the community to help build resilience and adapt to climate change.

We are committed to hearing from all New West residents regardless of their backgrounds, whether they are long-time New West residents or newcomers, or young or old. Your diverse perspectives will help shape our community’s climate resilient future.

Scroll down to see how you can share your thoughts!

New Westminster is already experiencing the impacts of climate change. We are seeing more frequent and extreme weather events and natural disasters such as floods, storms, drought, heavy rainfall, extreme heat, and more. These events can disrupt daily life, cause damage to our homes, buildings, and infrastructure, and affect both physical and mental health.

In 2019, New Westminster’s Council declared a Climate Emergency and endorsed the Seven Bold Steps for Climate Action that guides us to moving the community towards a zero-carbon future by 2050. As part of the City’s ongoing efforts to reduce its contribution to climate change, the City adopted an updated Community Energy and Emissions Plan (CEEP 2050) in 2022. A key action identified in the CEEP 2050 is to develop a climate change resilience strategy to coordinate greenhouse gas mitigation and adaptation efforts to help the City and the New West community prepare for the climate impacts we are experiencing today and into the future.

In May 2025, the City of New Westminster began developing its first adaptation-focused plan, the Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Plan (CCARP). This Plan will help develop solutions to cater to the needs of the community, and guide how to allocate resources to adapt to a changing climate to build a safer, healthier New Westminster for everyone.

Who's Listening

Anu Garcha

Adaptation and Resilience Specialist

climateaction@newwestcity.ca

Through the Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Plan, the City will outline a vision for New Westminster’s future that is:

Resilient:

Ensuring our community, infrastructure, and environment are ready for climate change and able to handle and recover from extreme weather events and natural disasters like floods, heavy rainfall, and extreme heat.

Equitable:

All community members—especially those most affected by climate change—have access to the supports and resources they need to stay safe and recover from climate events.

Adaptable:

Actions identified are flexible and can change as needed, and designed to work even if the future turns out differently than expected.

The development of the CCARP, will identify:

Climate change-related hazard events: dangerous events made worse by climate change that we expect to see more of in New Westminster like floods, heatwaves, or storms that can harm people, nature, buildings, and infrastructure.
Climate impacts: negative effects of climate change, including impacts to mental and physical health, damages to buildings and infrastructure, and a loss of plants and animals.
Actionable solutions: initiatives that are easy to measure, specific, and can be implemented to support climate resilience in the City and the New West community.

If you are interested in learning more about the climate change context for the City of New Westminster, please check out the document titled "Summary of Preliminary Research to Inform the Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Plan."

What work has taken place between the two rounds of engagement:

In Round 1 of Community Engagement in September - October 2025 (read the Engagement Summary here), we asked the community to share their stories and experiences of climate change impacts in New West, and what actions would help the community build resilience and adapt to climate change.

Based on what we heard from the community and through technical research, our team developed the draft structure (or framework) for the CCARP, with six overarching themes and 12 strategies to set us on the path towards our vision of a more resilient, equitable, and adaptable New Westminster. Together with input from experts across City departments and community organizations, we have also developed a list of specific actions for each strategy to include in the CCARP. We are bundling the draft themes, goals, strategies, and actions under the term “draft solutions”. If interested, you can read the full list of actions here [link to Be Heard actions handout].

The draft solutions have been developed with the following lenses to help ensure that that the CCARP not only addresses climate risks, but also advances broader community priorities and values. The four lenses are:

Low Carbon Resilience - considers how adaptation and resilience efforts affect carbon pollution with the goal of avoiding carbon-intensive solutions and instead promoting solutions that improve resilience without increasing carbon pollution.
Truth and Reconciliation - considers how the CCARP can support respectful relationships, learning, and action in alignment with Truth and Reconciliation, including acknowledging Indigenous knowledge, histories, rights, and perspectives in climate adaptation and resilience efforts.
Equity - considers how climate change solutions may affect people differently, and helps ensure that the CCARP supports fair, inclusive, and accessible outcomes, especially for those who may be disproportionately affected by climate impacts.
Co-benefits - considers how adaptation and resilience solutions can provide additional benefits (e.g. social, economic, health etc.) beyond reducing climate risk.

To ensure the needs and experiences of the community are reflected in the plan, we are sharing the draft solutions and structure of the Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Plan for feedback. We want to ensure the Plan is developed based on our shared values, priorities, risks, vulnerabilities, and needs. We would like to hear from the community if:

the draft solutions (themes, goals, strategies, and actions) reflect your interests and needs to prepare for climate change;
the draft structure of the plan is clear and easy to understand; and
you have any recommendations to improve the draft solutions and draft structure of the Plan.

The feedback that comes out of this round of engagement, as well as technical research from City staff and partners, will help refine and finalize the solutions and structure of the Plan to cater to the needs of our community.

How can I engage?

In this round of community engagement, we want to hear your thoughts on the themes and strategies and if they reflect your needs and priorities for climate resilience. Share your feedback through any or multiple of these opportunities!

Note: The same information and questions will be shared at the open house and all pop-ups. There is no need to attend all opportunities. Choose the option and locations that work best for you.

Share your thoughts on the draft solutions and structure of the Plan with the project team in person at our open house:

Saturday, May 9, 2026, 10:00 am to 3:00 pm at Anvil Centre (lobby). Light snacks will be provided.

Can’t make it to the open house? Stop by one of our pop-ups:

Tuesday, May 19, 2026, 9:30 to 11:30 am at Century House (Spruce Room)
Friday, May 22, 2026, 3:00 pm to 5:30 pm at Queensborough Community Centre (lobby)

Take the online survey on Be Heard. This survey should take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete.

Your responses are anonymous and voluntary. You can skip any questions.

Survey closes at the end of the day (11:59 pm), Sunday, May 31, 2026.

Take the survey here!

Want to delve deeper? Review and share feedback on the draft actions by leaving comments directly on the document! You can also see what other participants have shared and engage with their input. The tool closes at the end of the day (11:59 pm), Sunday, May 31, 2026.

Review the draft actions here!

We are committed to hearing from any New West residents regardless of their backgrounds, whether they are long-time New West residents or newcomers, or young or old. Your diverse perspectives will help shape our community’s sustainable future. The City recognizes that everyone experiences the changing climate and its impacts differently. In addition to the broader public engagement, the project team is working closely with groups of New West residents who may have been and will likely be affected by these impacts disproportionately, such as seniors, renters, and those with mobility or health needs.

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