Canada invests $47M in wildfire resilience

What happened: The federal government will invest $45.7 million in 30 projects across Canada to strengthen wildfire resilience through the Build and Mobilize Foundational Wildland Fire Knowledge program.

The details: Projects include wildfire risk assessments, adaptive forestry approaches, and community resilience planning, with an emphasis on Indigenous-led fire stewardship. The funding complements the newly launched Wildfire Resilience Consortium of Canada, a national hub for wildfire innovation, and is part of the broader National Adaptation Strategy.

A growing threat: Canada is facing its second-worst season on record (surpassed only by 2023). Globally, California, South Korea and Spain all faced major blazes in 2025, with more happening outside typical “fire seasons”.

Earlier this year, G7 countries pledged to work together on preventing and mitigating wildfires, including technology, data collection, and interoperability.

Why it matters: Fires have become the country’s single largest source of carbon emissions - double the oil and gas sector in 2023 - while disrupting energy grids, supply chains, and insurance markets.

Meeting this threat means new approaches to forest and land management, insurance markets, building practices and more.

Yes, but:

• Investment still lags the pace of escalating wildfire risk

• Adaptation tech attracts less than 10% of global climate tech funding

• Foundational research often fails to translate into practice on the ground

• Tech solutions need to adapt to an industry still largely working on pen and paper

The bottom line: Ottawa is signalling a pivot from firefighting to resilience-building. But success will hinge on whether research and innovation can scale and adapt into operational practice - and whether adaptation tech finally attracts the capital it needs to grow.

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