Federal Legislation & Action Plans
- Being Prepared for Climate Change: A Workbook for Developing Risk-Based Adaptation Plans Identifying risks associated with climate change and managing them to reduce their impacts is essential. This Workbook presents a guide to climate change adaptation planning based on EPA’s experience with watershed management, the National Estuary Program and the Climate Ready Estuaries program. The Workbook will assist organizations that manage environmental resources to prepare a broad, risk-based adaptation plan.
- Department of Defense FY 2012 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap The Department of Defense (DoD) Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap (CCAR) fulfills a requirement of Executive Order 13514, Federal Leadership in nvironmenta l, Energy and Economic Performance.
- EPA Adaptation Implementation Plans On October 31, 2014, EPA released the final versions of its Agency-wide Climate Change Adaptation Plan and the 17 Climate Change Adaptation Implementation Plans produced by the Program and Regional Offices. These final versions were revised from earlier drafts following public comment periods. They respond to directives in Executive Order 13653 - Preparing the United States for the Impacts of Climate Change. The final EPA Plan and the 17 Implementation Plans are living documents that will be periodically revised in subsequent years to account for new knowledge, data, scientific evidence, and lessons learned from the Agency’s ongoing efforts to integrate climate adaptation planning into its programs, policies, rules and operations.
- Federal Agency Strategic Sustainability Performance Plans Under Executive Order 13514, Federal agencies are required to develop, implement and annually update a plan that prioritizes actions based on a positive return on investment for the American taxpayer and to meet GHG emissions, energy, water, and waste reduction targets. Agencies released their fourth annual Sustainability Plans in October 2013. In these updated plans, agencies discuss highlights and challenges from the previous year, and, based on these results, how they will refine their strategies, expand on successes, and plan new initiatives to meet the Executive Order goals.
- Federal Code, Title 16: Conservation Title 16 of the Federal Code covers conservation of natural resources, which is closely related to resilient cities.
- Executive Order -- Planning for Federal Sustainability in the Next Decade Demonstrating a commitment to lead by example, on October 5, 2009, President Obama signed Executive Order 13514. This EO signed in 2015 supersedes it.
- Green Infrastructure Cost-Benefit Resources Green infrastructure can be a cost-effective approach to improve water quality and help communities stretch their infrastructure investments further by providing multiple environmental, economic, and community benefits. On this page, learn more about how other communities have realized cost savings through their green infrastructure programs as well as about tools you can use to inform your own cost-benefit analysis.
- National Action Plan: Priorities for Managing Freshwater Resources in a Changing Climate This National Action Plan is based on the latest science on climate risks to freshwater resources and establishes the following national goal: Government agencies and citizens collaboratively manage freshwater resources in response to a changing climate in order to ensure adequate water supplies, to safeguard human life, health and property, and to protect water quality and aquatic ecosystems.
- Next Steps for Managing Freshwater Resources in a Changing Climate: A Report of the Water Resources Adaptation to Climate Change Workgroup This report summarizes recommendations for next steps in implementing the National Action Plan: Priorities for Managing Freshwater Resources in a Changing Climate.
- Preparing Our Communities for Climate Impacts: Recommendations for Federal Action Draws from a series of workshops with leading federal, state and local officials and builds upon lessons learned post-disaster in New Orleans (following Hurricane Katrina), New York (following Hurricane Sandy) and Vermont (after Hurricane Irene). The report identifies more than 30 federal programs, initiatives and laws that can be used to prepare for extreme events such as storms, floods and heat waves as well as rising seas. Published by the Georgetown Climate Center.
- Water Infrastructure and Resiliency Finance Center EPA's Water Infrastructure and Resiliency Finance Center will serve as a resource for communities, municipal utilities, and private entities as they seek to address water infrastructure needs with limited budgets.
Books
Investing in Water by
In the context of the economies of the world becoming greener, this book provides a global and interdisciplinary overview of the condition of the world’s water resources and the infrastructure used to manage it. It focuses on current social and economic costs of water provision, needs and opportunities for investment and for improving its management. It describes the large array of water policy challenges facing the world, including the Milennium Development Goals for clean water and sanitation, and shows how these might be met.
ISBN: 9780415501255Publication Date: 2013-04-10
Financing Sustainable Water Infractructure by
As part of our work with Charting New Waters, we have focused on discovering different approaches to financing structures that incorporate new perspectives and input. The Financing Sustainable Water Infrastructure report is the product of a meeting convened by The Johnson Foundation, in collaboration with American Rivers and Ceres, that brought together a group of experts to discuss ways to drive funding toward the infrastructure needed for the 21st century. The report has led to testimony before Congress, amid other important work.
Infrastructure Finance by
Infrastructure Finance examines how the activities associated with updating and creating efficient transportation and communications, reliable and affordable energy, clean water, and other essential systems, have become a profitable financial endeavor. Recently, providing, operating, and maintaining infrastructure has advanced as a recognized and important investment sector that reaches beyond earlier business models. Infrastructure Finance puts this field in perspective and details what you need to know to succeed within it.
ISBN: 9780470596456Publication Date: 2010-02-12- Green Growth: A U.S. Program for Controlling Climate Change and Expanding Job Opportunities by
This report quantifies the level of investment required for the United States to align emissions reductions with international goals in an economically beneficial and technically feasible manner. The specific emissions-reduction goal we explore in this study is what the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, has proposed for the world as a whole: reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent from 2005 levels by 2035. To do its part to meet this goal, the United States must reduce its carbon dioxide emissions from energy-based sources by 40 percent, to 3,200 million metric tons, or mmt, over roughly the next 20 years. The proposals in this report put the United States on this track to effectively mitigate global climate change.
Publication Date: 2014
Green Infrastructure Finance by
This report builds on the conclusions of the Green Infrastructure Finance: Leading Initiatives and Research report and lays out a simple and elegant way in which scarce public financing can leverage market interest in 'greening' infrastructure, particularly in the East Asia and Pacific Region. The framework introduced in the report bridges ideas and concepts between environmental economics and project finance practices and consists largely of an analytical methodology for determining the financial viability gap of low-emission projects and an approach for assessing and strengthening the green investment climate in a given country environment.
Call Number: 332.6722 L326gISBN: 9780821395271Publication Date: 2012-06-06
Green Infrastructure Finance by
This research report provides a structured compendium of ongoing leading initiatives and activities designed to accelerate private investment flows in green growth. It summarizes current investment challenges of green projects as well as proposed solutions, financing schemes and instruments, and initiatives that have set the stage for promoting green growth. The results of this work are intended to benefit the international community and policymakers who are seeking to deepen their knowledge of green investment environment. In addition, it is hoped that this work will be useful to practitioners, including fund managers and investors, seeking to have a better understanding of current trends, global initiatives, and available funding sources and mechanisms for financing green projects.
Call Number: 338.927 G822ISBN: 9780821394885Publication Date: 2012-04-18
State and Local Legislation & Action Plans
- Climate Adaptation Gap Assessment Designed to help communities achieve the following: Identify community strengths and assets for climate resilience opportunities; Identify areas of greatest need, and gaps in knowledge and capacity; Create focused guidance for a climate resilience agenda for your community; Obtain recommendations for climate adaptation actions (planning &/or implementation).
- Illinois Cool Cities Act - 415 ILCS 145 State assistance for local greenhouse gas reduction initiatives
- Legal Resources for Climate Change Adaptation Legal solutions are needed to ensure that government decision-makers, engineers, architects, planners, and other stakeholders account for known climate risks when making decisions about the built and natural environment. The Sabin Center has compiled this database of legal resources for adaptation, which includes information about specific legal provisions that could be interpreted as requiring consideration of climate-related risks, articles discussing the nature of legal obligations to adapt, and resources to facilitate adaptation planning efforts undertaken by government and private actors.
- Legal Tools for Climate Adaptation Advocacy: A Handbook This handbook describes how regulators and the public can use existing laws to advance adaptation objectives.
- Local Law Provisions for Climate Change Adaptation In September 2014, New York enacted the Community Risk and Resiliency Act which requires in part that the New York Department of State and the Department of Environmental Conservation create model local laws relating to climate change adaptation for use by local governments. The Sabin Center for Climate Change Law has assembled existing and suggested local law provisions that reflect diverse approaches to adaptation to climate-enhanced flood risk in an effort to: assist the State with drafting model local laws for adaptation; encourage the State to incorporate a broad range of adaptation strategies, including retreat from areas of high flood risk; and assist local governments with implementation of these programs. While many of the approaches reflected in this paper deal with coastal local laws, local governments could adopt similar strategies and language in riverine floodplains.
- Model Protocols: Accounting for the Effects of Climate Change in Environmental Review and Planning Documents The Sabin Center has developed model protocols describing how decision-makers can account for the impacts of climate change when conducting environmental reviews and related planning activities (such as resource assessments). These protocols are intended to provide guidance to federal, state, and local agencies, environmental consultants, and other stakeholders who are involved in planning and environmental review processes.
- Putting Green Infrastructure on Private Property in New York City This paper proceeds in four sections. The first provides an overview of the problems confronting New York City as a result of existing stormwater management infrastructure and regulation, and also summarizes the City's current green infrastructure (GI) goals. The second section summarizes the benefits and costs that are expected to accompany GI in the New York City context. The third describes the City's goals for creating GI on public and private property, as well as the timeframes currently envisioned for the task. It also notes the particular importance -- and difficulty -- of scaling up GI installations on private property. Finally, the fourth section examines the knotty administrative and legal issues involved in using public money to increase the volume of GI on private property.
- State and Local Adaptation Plans States and communities around the country have begun to prepare for the climate changes that are already underway. This planning process typically results in a document called an adaptation plan. The site provides a map that highlights the status of state adaptation efforts. Click on a state to view a summary of its progress to date and to access its full profile page. State profile pages include a detailed breakdown of each state's adaptation work and links to local adaptation plans and resources.