Project History
Building the Business Climate Action Toolkit
In 2014, the City of Hamilton created a public engagement campaign to help identify challenges and potential solutions to address climate change in the region. This campaign, called “Let’s talk about the weather”, featured public workshops, events and newsletters. It built awareness around local climate change impacts and identified ten priority actions needed to address climate change. One of the priority actions identified by the resulting “Community Climate Change Action Plan (CCCAP)” was to “create an accessible toolkit for businesses to assist with impact analysis and business continuity planning” in the context of a changing climate and low-carbon economy.
As a key partner in the development of the CCCAP, Sustainable Hamilton Burlington (SHB), now Sustainability Leadership, applied for and received funding to develop this toolkit. In March 2018, SHB conducted a series of working groups to explore the common challenges and resources needed to integrate climate risk management and environmental management into business.
Several insights emerged from this research:
- Businesses want to better understand the risks of climate change on their organization
- Businesses want support for capacity building in leadership and change management
- Businesses want information on what projects and programs can be integrated into business
- Businesses want access to financial supports to integrate these projects and programs
- Businesses want to be connected to networks for support, guidance, and recognition
These insights have helped to inform the development of this toolkit, which aims to support local businesses in building a climate-resilient, low-carbon future for themselves and our communities.

Homepage image by Mikhail’s Photography