Alain Webster and Alain Bourque will co-chair the committee of experts to advise the government of François Legault on climate change adaptation, Radio-Canada has learned.
Called the Group of Experts on Climate Change Adaptation, this committee must make recommendations to the Minister of the Environment Benoit Charette with a view to the next update of the Plan for a Green Economy, expected next spring.
Climatologist and meteorologist who worked for a long time at Environment Canada, Alain Bourque is now the general director of Ouranos.
Meanwhile, Alain Webster, is the chairman of the Climate Change Advisory Committee, another group tasked with advising the government on broader environmental issues. The new mission he inherited is dedicated specifically to adapting to climate change and becoming complementary
of the work already underway, he wrote a statement.
The issue is of particular concern to Quebec cities, which estimate that they need two billion dollars per year to adapt their infrastructure to climate change, a request to which Prime Minister François Legault closed the door.
Although he did not commit to responding to the municipality’s requests, the Minister of Environment promised a reinforced action
in the next few months.
In an interview with Radio-Canada at the beginning of September, Benoit Charette committed to implementing the recommendations of this committee. If we put this reference body, it is listening to it
he said.
Energy specialist Pierre-Olivier Pineau, who criticized “a kind of censorship”, recently resigned from the Advisory Committee on Climate Change.
A construction team
So the two co-chairs of the Expert Group on Adaptation to Climate Change have the task of forming a team in the coming weeks.
The mandate given to them is twofold, according to the office of the Minister of Environment: identify priorities for the development of scientific knowledge
etc identifying the best courses of action in terms of adaptation
.
