These projects aim to mitigate infrastructure vulnerabilities caused by extreme weather events to help keep Canadians safer

CSA Group, a leading standards development and testing, inspection and certification organization, today announced a new initiative in partnership with the National Research Council (NRC) to incorporate strategies for addressing climate change into existing and new Canadian standards and codes. The initiative includes a series of seven climate change adaptation projects, expected to be completed before April 2019, as part of the NRC Climate-Resilient Core Public Infrastructure program.

“Incorporating climate change considerations into standards will help guide how infrastructure is designed and built to withstand more frequent and severe weather events,” said Mary Cianchetti, President of Standards at CSA Group. “With this work, CSA Group is proud to make a strong and meaningful contribution towards the National Research Council’s ambitious Climate-Resilient Core Public Infrastructure program with Infrastructure Canada, and we are committed to the development of advanced, technically sound, and reliable infrastructure standards to help ensure the safety and well-being of Canadians.”

Aiming to address infrastructure vulnerabilities to climate change, this important and timely effort will support the resilient design, construction and maintenance of infrastructure systems across Canada in the following areas:

• Development of climate change adaptation solutions within the framework of the Canadian Electrical Code Parts 1, 2 and 3
• Climate change adaptation provisions for the Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code (CSA S6 – Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code)
• Climate change adaptation for the Durability of Buildings (CSA S478)
• Flood proofing and flood prevention measures to protect basement flooding (new guideline)
• Green infrastructure to support flood mitigation and surface water protection (new standards)
• Climate change adaptation for wastewater treatment plants (new standard)
• Climate change adaptation provisions for Canadian Fenestration Standards (CSA A440 Series)

These seven projects mark the start of CSA Group’s expanding efforts in ensuring sustainability and climate change are at the forefront of its standards development process. They combine the organization’s climate change expertise with its well-established standard development strengths in the Construction & Infrastructure and Electrotechnical sectors.

For more information about CSA Group’s growing work on the incorporation of climate change adaptation measures into Canadian standards and codes, or to learn more about CSA Group’s ongoing environment and climate change work on the international level, please contact Mark Braiter, Senior Project Manager ([email protected]). CSA Group will be providing regular updates on its seven new projects on the CSA Communities platform. Register for free to receive the latest updates, ask questions and participate in the discussion.

About CSA Group

CSA Group is a global organization dedicated to safety, social good and sustainability. CSA Group is one of the largest standards development organizations in North America – conducting research and developing standards for a broad range of technologies and functional areas. CSA Group is also a global provider of testing, inspection and certification services for products in many market sectors – and a leader in safety and environmental certification for Canada and the US. The CSA certification mark appears on billions of products worldwide. For more information about CSA Group, please visit dev-www.csagroup.org.