Community-Oriented Climate Action Plan in a Mid-Sized Shoreline Municipality: A Canadian Case Study

A municipal climate action plan outlines programs and policies for effective greenhouse gas emission reductions and iterative adaptation strategies based on local priorities and realities. In this study, we supported a shoreline municipality in Canada through the development of a community-based climate action initiative. This initiative combined public workshops and a rapid online survey informed by interviews with local thought leaders and institutional authorities in the region. The project followed a multistage comparative analysis to assess active knowledge and the perception of climate change impacts among community members. Our findings were synthesized into a set of recommendations for integrating community expectations into municipal planning, thereby enhancing the legitimacy and responsiveness of local action plans. The primary objective of this project was to enable, empower, and educate residents to co-create a climate action plan grounded in their lived realities and priorities. This chapter outlines the methodological approach in detail, offering a transferable model for other coastal communities seeking to bolster public trust, local capacity, and collective ownership in climate governance. By prioritizing accessible and inclusive engagement strategies, this case study demonstrates how localized planning can address the complex, overlapping mandates faced by coastal communities under threat from climate change.