As storms and floods are becoming more frequent and severe, our commitment to climate change adaptation and making our cities, communities, infrastructure and buildings resilient is stronger than ever. By intensifying our education efforts and creating greater awareness of the risks our country faces and the preventative measures that we can all adopt, we help Canadians adapt to the new weather reality.

Climate change is one of the most significant issues facing our communities. Intact has recognized the need for Canadians to better understand and adapt to the new realities brought on by climate change. As well, we recognize the benefits of protecting and preserving our environment.

Building on an innovative climate adaptation research project between Intact Financial Corporation and the University of Waterloo, we collaboratively announced the launch of the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation™(ICCA) in November of 2015.

ICCA is focused on de-risking Canada from the financial, physical, and social impacts of climate change by providing cost effective guidance to Canadians on how to adapt to extreme weather (e.g. extreme rainfall, hail, wind, and ice storms). This will be accomplished through three key areas of focus:

• Home Adaptation Assessment Program - Enabling homeowners to safeguard their property against basement flooding, by identifying and mitigating against points of entry for water.
• Natural Infrastructure Adaptation Assessment Program - Focuses on developing a national wetlands retention and restoration program with the aim to limit potential flood damage at the community level.
• Corporate Adaptation Assessment program - Focuses on engaging business sectors (e.g., commercial real estate, electricity, telecommunications, etc.) to identify climate change and extreme weather risks, and to subsequently establish means to limit those risks.

To learn more about the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo, please visit http://www.intactcentreclimateadaptation.ca.

We continue to explore ways to minimalize our footprint on the environment. In 2015, we were named one of 100 most sustainable corporations in the world by Corporate Knights, a Toronto-based media and investment advisory company. Additionally, we were ranked among the best in corporate citizenship, the Best 50 Corporate Citizens in Canada, awarded through a separate study also done by this organization.