Manitoba Climate Resilience Training (MCRT) Infrastructure Project

Equip professional engineers, geoscientists, allied professionals, and decision-makers to design infrastructure and other projects that protect the public from extreme weather while reducing carbon emissions.

1. Build awareness and knowledge to integrate climate change solutions into design and development to promote climate resiliency and climate mitigation in Manitoba.
2. Increase skills, capacity, and tool usage to integrate current and future climate information and data into analysis, planning, and decision making on projects.
3. Enhance collaboration with stakeholders in Manitoba and across Canada, fostering a strong community of practice, knowledge, and expertise.

Subject areas of consideration include:

• Climate Change Mitigation Solutions
• Green and Natural Infrastructure Innovative knowledge
• Flood and Drought Mitigation
• Clean Technology and Green Economy
• Climate Information Interpretation

Background

A survey of organizations who build and manage infrastructure in Manitoba was conducted to identify training needs related to mitigating and adapting to climate change in their work. This survey was initiated by Engineers Geoscientists Manitoba in December 2022 through Probe Research.

Our allied professions and decision-makers in professional planning, architecture, agriculture, construction, Indigenous organizations, and municipalities participated in the survey, and are encouraged to take advantage of the results.

• Manitoba Construction Sector Council
• Manitoba Building Trades Institute
• Manitoba Association of Architects
• Manitoba Professional Planners Institute
• Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs
• Manitoba Municipal Administrators Association
• Association of Manitoba Municipalities

New training courses were developed to reflect the needs identified, and to provide a common understanding of how climate change impacts infrastructure in Manitoba.

Project Tasks

• Establish a Manitoba Climate Resiliency Training Project (MCRT) Working Group.
• Update environmental scan research to identify providers of courses consistent with the identified training requirements and to identify where new courses need to be developed.
• Update and deliver three infrastructure sector training courses that were initially delivered in the MCRT offering. These include:
  
  
  1. Infrastructure Climate Risk Assessment - featuring the PIEVC Process
  2. An Introduction to Climate Change through Codes, Standards, and Regulations
  3. Nature-Based Infrastructure Solutions to Enhance Resilience
• Create training courses and other capacity building initiatives which will include mitigation strategies and technologies.

Target delivery of updated courses in the 2023/24 fiscal year.
Target delivery of new courses in the 2024/25 fiscal year.

Project Team

Is your infrastructure resilient? Are you designing, building, operating and maintaining infrastructure to meet the demands of more frequent and severe climate events? Understanding climate risks to infrastructure is a key first step in adapting to, and mitigating, a changing climate. Infrastructure designers, managers, operators and decision makers must assess climate vulnerabilities and risks and identify actions and priorities to ensure our infrastructure is resilient. Using Manitoba-themed example projects and case studies, and focusing on the PIEVC risk assessment process, this course outlined the main steps on conducting a climate change risk/resilience assessment on infrastructure systems.

• Presentation Slides (PDF)
• Completed Project Risk Worksheet (PDF)
• Minnedosa Case Study (PDF)
• PIEVC High Level Screening Guide

Natural infrastructure is becoming a mainstream option for enhancing the climate resilience of built infrastructure and communities. In Canada, a diverse range of natural infrastructure solutions have been used to address climate change hazards, including wetlands and riparian buffers to address riverine flooding; permeable pavement and retention ponds to improve urban and rural stormwater management; and green roofs and trees to increase resilience to extreme heat in cities. This course provided a basic understanding using sustainable/natural infrastructure/innovative solutions to build resilience to climate change. A diverse range of nature-based solutions, implementation considerations, and their co-benefits was presented.

• Presentation Slides (PDF)
• Supplementary Handout (PDF)
• International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)

Codes, standards, and regulations are changing in response to and in anticipation of climate change. Organizations across the world are updating existing standards or writing new ones to help engineers, construction workers, healthcare workers, and many others to prepare society for extreme weather and changing climate conditions. The intention and purpose of this course is to have all participants understand the role that is played by Codes, Standards, and Regulations regarding climate change adaptation and mitigation for infrastructure, water and wastewater, and building construction.

• Presentation Slides (PDF)
• Supplementary Handout (PDF)

Ground-Source Heat Pump (GSHP) technology provides Manitoba the opportunity to heat and cool our buildings and power our vehicles electrically without burning fossil fuels. Poor design and installations have created a perception that GSHP systems are expensive and unreliable. However, it has been shown to be reliable, efficient, and cost effective when properly designed and installed.

There is increasing demand on design professionals everywhere to understand GSHP and to know how to incorporate it in their projects. In conjunction with geothermal design, energy modelling plays an important part of the design process to ensure accurate understanding of the building operation and energy loads, and how this in turn affects geothermal system sizing. This course is both an introduction to geothermal engineering and to the importance of energy modelling in its proper design and implementation.

• Presentation Slides (PDF)
• Supplementary Handout (PDF)