A federal climate scientist and an adaptation researcher take unscripted questions on what a 5°C trajectory means for Canadian communities, infrastructure and policy.
Two days after the federal government’s landmark scientific assessment landed in the public conversation, the science behind Canada’s Changing Climate Report was scheduled to face open, unscripted questions. The Canadian Climate Institute announced an “Ask Me Anything” webinar for Thursday, September 10 at 12:00 p.m. Eastern, pairing the report’s co-author with the Institute’s adaptation research lead for a session built almost entirely around audience questions rather than prepared remarks.
The format is unusual for a document of this weight. Federal climate assessments are typically released with technical briefings and summary statements; this session instead invites Canadians to interrogate the findings directly, including the report’s central projection that the country is on track for a future up to 5°C hotter on average.
The 5°C Trajectory and the Impacts the Report Calls Inevitable
The 2026 assessment is described as a landmark scientific summary of how climate change will affect Canada. Its headline conclusion is blunt: on the current trajectory, average warming across the country could reach up to 5°C.
The report identifies a set of consequences that are now considered locked in and that Canadians will need to prepare for regardless of future emissions choices:
- Extensive glacier loss: a permanent reshaping of alpine ice, with implications for the watersheds that depend on it.
- More frequent and more intense heat waves: a shift in both how often extreme heat arrives and how severe it becomes.
- More extreme wildfire seasons: a continuation of the conditions that have already stretched provincial and territorial response capacity.
Crucially, the science does not end there. The report also finds that it is not too late to avoid many of the worst impacts of an overheating planet — a distinction between warming already committed and warming that remains preventable. That split between the inevitable and the avoidable is the practical core of what the webinar set out to explain, and it echoes the findings detailed in our earlier coverage of what the 2026 assessment says about irreversible warming.
Chris Derksen and Ryan Ness: Who Is Actually Answering
The featured expert is Dr. Chris Derksen, Acting Director of the Climate Modelling Research Division at Environment and Climate Change Canada. He is a co-author of both the 2019 and the 2026 editions of Canada’s Changing Climate Report, which places him in a rare position — able to speak to how the national picture has shifted across two full assessment cycles rather than commenting on a single snapshot.
He is joined by Ryan Ness, Director of Adaptation Research at the Canadian Climate Institute, who moderates the discussion. The pairing is deliberate: one voice explaining what the modelling shows, the other framing what it means for the policy and preparedness response.
The Canadian Climate Institute is an independent, registered Canadian charity focused on climate policy research, with work streams spanning clean growth, adaptation, mitigation, sustainable finance and Indigenous research. It was formerly known as the Canadian Institute for Climate Choices.
How the Ask Me Anything Session Was Structured
Rather than a conventional presentation, the hour was designed to hand the floor to attendees. The organisers outlined a short introduction and overview of the report, followed by an extended question-and-answer period.
Several procedural details are worth noting for anyone who follows how climate science is communicated in Canada:
- Questions are not attributed: attendees’ names are not attached to the questions they submit, which lowers the barrier for public servants, journalists and industry staff to ask directly.
- Advance or live submission: questions could be sent ahead of the session or raised during it.
- Bilingual accommodation: the webinar is delivered in English, but written questions in French are accepted and answered by the presenters.
Registration is handled through the Institute’s event page. No fee is mentioned on the event listing, and no recording or replay arrangement is specified.
View the webinar details and register
“Nowhere Near Enough”: The Institute’s Message to Decision-Makers
Alongside the event, the Canadian Climate Institute issued a statement summarising the report’s key findings, concluding that Canada must actively prepare for the impacts now considered inevitable while accelerating efforts to prevent warming that is not yet locked in.
Ryan Ness put the argument in sharper terms. “This report should concern every decision-maker in Canada,” he said, adding that all orders of government should significantly accelerate both emissions reductions and adaptation “because the current level of effort is nowhere near enough to prepare us for what is coming.”
The phrasing matters. It frames the problem as a two-track failure — not simply an emissions shortfall, but a parallel gap in readiness — and it explicitly reaches past Ottawa to provincial, territorial and municipal governments.
Why the Adaptation Gap Lands on Business and Municipal Balance Sheets
The following is general sector context rather than a finding of the report. Adaptation decisions in Canada are made largely at the level where infrastructure is owned and operated: municipalities, utilities, provincial transport ministries and private asset owners. A warming projection expressed nationally translates, at that level, into design standards for stormwater systems, wildfire buffer zones, road and bridge specifications, and cooling capacity in housing and long-term care facilities.
That is why an assessment like this tends to surface in procurement and capital planning long before it surfaces in legislation. Major rebuild programs — including projects such as the $38-million Highway 17 reconstruction in Northern Ontario — are the practical venue where updated climate assumptions either get built in or get deferred to the next replacement cycle, which may be decades away.
For businesses, the same findings feed into insurance pricing, supply chain routing, workforce heat safety obligations and disclosure expectations under sustainable finance frameworks. Extreme wildfire seasons in particular have already demonstrated their ability to disrupt air quality, tourism, forestry and transportation across multiple provinces simultaneously.
What Changed Between the 2019 and 2026 Assessments
Because Dr. Derksen co-authored both editions, the session offered something a written report cannot easily provide: a direct account of how the scientific picture evolved between the two assessments. The source material does not detail specific figure-by-figure comparisons between the 2019 and 2026 reports, and none should be assumed.
What the 2026 edition does establish is a clearer separation between committed and avoidable warming — the framing that now anchors the Institute’s call for simultaneous acceleration on mitigation and adaptation. For readers tracking Canadian climate policy, that framing is likely to shape how the next round of federal and provincial targets is debated.
Frequently Asked Questions
When was the webinar held, and in what time zone?
Thursday, September 10, at 12:00 p.m. Eastern time.
Who took part?
Dr. Chris Derksen, Acting Director of the Climate Modelling Research Division at Environment and Climate Change Canada and a co-author of the report, in discussion with Ryan Ness, Director of Adaptation Research at the Canadian Climate Institute.
Could questions be asked in French?
Yes. The session was delivered in English, but participants could submit written questions in French for the presenters to answer.
Were participants’ names attached to their questions?
No. The organisers stated that questions would not be attributed, and they could be submitted in advance or during the session.
Does the report say the 5°C outcome is unavoidable?
No. It states Canada is currently on track for a future up to 5°C hotter on average, while also finding that it is not too late to avoid many of the worst impacts.
Was a recording made available?
Not mentioned in the event listing.
