The Hill (Op-ed): How to boost climate resilience — Fill in infrastructure law funding gaps

"When President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law in August, advocates for climate action cheered its unprecedented support for measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. With more than $369 billion in climate-friendly incentives for electric vehicles and more, the IRA is a historic legislative achievement on its own. But the legislation also pairs with the earlier Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) to turbocharge climate adaptation and resilience.

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"IIJA has created numerous opportunities for states, tribes and local governments to invest in equitable, climate-smart infrastructure. And now, IRA provides still more funding for climate change adaptation efforts that can further leverage IIJA’s reach — particularly in disadvantaged communities.

"IRA fills crucial gaps in federal resilience funding that IIJA didn’t cover. For example, IRA provides the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) — which did not receive money through IIJA — with $1 billion to support climate-resilient affordable housing through improvements in energy and water efficiency.

"Moreover, IIJA — which focused heavily on badly needed investments in transportation infrastructure — did not address resilience at national parks or on other public lands. IRA provides nearly $1 billion to the Department of the Interior for conservation, resilience and ecosystem restoration across our nation’s public landscapes, including $250 million for the Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service.

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"The IRA doesn’t just fill gaps in IIJA’s resilience funding. It also establishes two new and notable grant programs expressly designed to support climate adaptation in the disadvantaged communities that are too often hit “first and worst” by climate change and pollution. They are the Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grants program as well as the Neighborhood Access and Equity Grant program.

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"Climate change is affecting every aspect of our society. IIJA and IRA together can provide a game-changing boost for badly needed resilience and adaptation activities across the U.S. if every level of government is working together to make the most of this moment."

Read the full op-ed by GCC's Mark Rupp in The Hill.