Helping Communities Adapt to Climate Change
Even if society stopped emitting greenhouse gases today, the impacts of past and current emissions would be felt for decades. That’s why the Georgetown Climate Center is working with state and local policymakers to plan for flooding in coastal communities, to address water shortages in already dry regions of the country, and to offset the public health dangers related to climate change.
The Georgetown Climate Center provides states and local governments with best-practice models, legal analysis, policy work, and legislative tracking, and seeks to maximize the federal, state, regional, and local collaborations that are needed to implement new approaches to adaptation.
Learn more about the Center’s work on adaptation.
News and Updates
While U.S. legislation to combat climate change remains stalled, this story highlights and recognizes some of the good adaptation work happening in states and cities throughout the country.
"Although no one has tallied exact numbers, hundreds of communities and agencies are reacting to increasingly severe weather…Vermont, reeling from unprecedented damage from Hurricane Irene, plans to rebuild stronger and better. 'Before, we were thoughtfully changing our codes and standards to make our infrastructure more resilient to changing weather...
The Georgetown Climate Center recently released two new reports to help communities adapt to climate change.
"Adaptation Tool Kit: Sea-Level Rise and Coastal Land Use" explores 18 different land use tools that communities can use to prepare for rising sea levels and the flooding that will result from climate change.
"Adaptation Case Studies in the Western United States" examines water shortages in the West and the protection of an important ground-dwelling bird: the greater sage grouse. ...
The Georgetown Climate Center has launched the Adaptation Clearinghouse, a new online tool and networking site that seeks to help communities adapt to climate change.
Facing extreme storms, flooding, drought, and water shortages, state and local policymakers are responding now to the impacts of climate change and are being forced to rethink planning for everything from roadway design and location to building standards to development along our...
The report, completed with assistance from the Georgetown Climate Center and other partners, contains important recommendations for developing resilience in the face of the challenges posed by a changing climate.
Given issues like water shortages that are already affecting much of the West, Governors recognized the need for collaboration in 2009 when the WGA charged a work group to develop the report and committed to adopting policies that support the integration of adaptation science throughout the region.
The 2009 resolution, “Supporting the Integration of Climate Change Adaptation Science in the West”, also identified three specific goals for further discussion, which...
The Georgetown Climate Center co-sponsored this event, featuring a keynote address by Maria Blair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
Blair discussed the Obama administration's work on adaptation and an interim progress report on the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force. Other panels included the "Human Dimensions of Climate Change," "Regulatory Frameworks for Adapting to Climate Change" and "Biodiversity/Natural Resources Management." The Georgetown International Environmental Law Review and Environmental...
