December 2, 2014
Federal agencies released updated adaptation and sustainability plans on October 31, 2014. The updated plans build and improve upon the first phase of adaptation plans released in 2013. For the first time, the plans include discussion of how agencies can leverage existing federal programs to better support and remove barriers to state, local, and tribal adaptation efforts.
Federal programs, policies, and decisions will be critical to ensuring the long-term resilience of states and communities. Federal agencies deliver billions of dollars in financial assistance; they develop the data, tools, and models that are critical to informed decisionmaking; and federal regulatory programs, such as the Clean Water Act and National Flood Insurance Program, greatly affect state and local decisionmaking.
The 2014 plans include important analysis of the downstream effects federal programs have on state and local decisionmakers. Each agency identified actions the agency can take to remove barriers to and better support adaptation at the state and local level.
The following are examples of actions that federal agencies identified for promoting state and local adaptation over the next several years:
The Georgetown Climate Center has developed this detailed summary of federal agency adaptation plans. Many of the actions identified by the federal agencies in their adaptation plans also echo recommendations identified by the Climate Center in its recent report, Preparing Our Communities for Climate Impacts: Recommendations for Federal Action