A multi-disciplinary team developed a cost-benefit analysis for adaptation options for a major northern mine access road.
The Tibbitt to Contwoyto winter road provides access to three active mines in the Northwest Territories and is built mainly over frozen lakes. Researchers looked at the key climate change vulnerabilities associated with the ice road, and potential adaptations that could be used to modify the road. They conducted an analysis of the financial costs and benefits associated with those vulnerabilities and adaptations and the distribution of those costs and benefits.
The resulting study provides decision-makers of government and industry, with the information and tools, including the cost of implementing adaptations, to help them make choices about transportation in a changing climate. The project could also be a model for climate change cost-benefit analysis in other regions and on other types of infrastructure.
Project Lead:
Alison Perrin, Climate Change Education and Project Coordinator, Yukon Research Centre
Lacia Kinnear, Director of Governance and Strategic Initiatives, University and External Relations
Economic analytics:
David Sawyer, International Institute for Sustainable Development & EnviroEconomics
Jason Dion, International Institute for Sustainable Development
Melissa Harris, International Institute for Sustainable Development
Climate impacts and adaptation analyses:
Heather Auld, Risk Sciences International
Dr. Neil Comer, Risk Sciences International
Simon Eng, Analyst, Risk Sciences International
Erik Sparling, Director, Risk Sciences International
Vulnerability assessment:
Joel Nodelman, P.Eng., Nodelcorp Consulting Inc.
Joan Nodelman, Nodelcorp Consulting Inc.
- Perrin, A., J. Dion, S. Eng, D. Sawyer, J.R. Nodelman, N. Comer, H. Auld, E. Sparling, M. Harris, J.Y.H. Nodelman, L. Kinnear. 2015. Economic Implications of Climate Change Adaptations for Mine Access Roads in Northern Canada. Northern Climate ExChange, Yukon Research Centre, Yukon College, 93 pp
- A. Perrin, J. Dion, S. Eng, D. Sawyer, J.R. Nodelman, E. Sparling, Economic implications of climate change on the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road