Laws, Regulations, Policy Analysis, and Strategies
This tab includes strategies for serving communities on the frontline of climate change, including best practices, legal and policy analysis, laws, regulations, agency guidance, and executive orders relevant to equity and adaptation.
Resources are automatically presented by date. Apply additional filters to narrow the list by organization type of author, state, jurisdictional focus, region, or resource type.
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January 7, 2022
On January 7, 2022, North Carolina's Governor Roy Cooper signed Executive Order (EO) No. 246 entitled, "North Carolina’s Transformation to a Clean, Equitable Economy. " EO 246 calls for the state to take several actions related to climate change to improve the health and well-being of North Carolina's residents, prioritize and advance environmental justice and equity, engage with stakeholders and incorporate public input into decisionmaking processes, increase awareness about the health impacts of climate change including the disproportionate effects on underserved communities, and build a diverse workforce that is prepared to address climate change.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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October 7, 2021
In October 2021, the City of New York passed a new law that requires the city to prepare a citywide adaptation plan by September 30, 2022 that covers all five of the city's boroughs. The plan must evaluate climate hazards, including extreme storms, sea-level rise, tidal flooding, extreme heat, extreme precipitation, extreme wind, wildfires, and "flooding surge events associated with a storm." In addition, the city must include recommendations to help increase local resilience and adapt development and infrastructure to climate hazards. Notably, Intro. 1600-2019 has a specific focus on equity. Specifically, in the plan, the city is required to "identify areas that are highly vulnerable to climate hazards to help determine where resiliency and adaptation measures should first be implemented" and "consider the potential impact on environmental justice areas."
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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October 2021
In October 2021, the National Association of Climate Resilience Planners and the Movement Strategy Center, in collaboration with various other nongovernmental organizations, released the Community-Driven Climate Resilience Planning: A Framework. The Framework’s authors advocate that communities on the frontlines and most exposed to the impacts of climate change be involved in developing any plan that helps build their resilience to these impacts. The more these communities participate in the planning process, any resulting plans will be more effective.
Resource Category: Planning
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September 23, 2021
On September 23, 2021, California signed a $15-billion climate-investment package that includes 24 bills dedicated to tackling the climate crisis and protecting frontline communities in California. The bills address clean energy, wildfires, droughts, community climate resilience, sustainable agriculture, extreme heat, and sea-level rise, among other topics. As Governor Gavin Newsom explained, the bills aim to address “the climate crisis head-on while protecting the hardest-hit communities” in California.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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In 2021, the Climigration Network, in partnership with a diverse team of researchers, released Lead with Listening: A Guidebook for Community Conversations on Climate Migration. The guidebook is a resource on climate migration and how to have effective dialogue about it. It addresses how various factors (e. g. , cultural, financial, and location) make conversations surrounding the topic of climate migration (also called “managed retreat” or “relocation,” among other terms) challenging.
Resource Category: Education and Outreach
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July 6, 2021
On July 6, 2021, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed into law Public Law 21–115: An Act Concerning Climate Change Adaptation to increase local resilience planning options, legal authorities, and financing for adaptation and resilience projects. The main components of this law authorize the creation of municipal stormwater authorities, and increase the authority of municipal flood prevention and climate resilience boards and their ability to collect and raise funds for climate resilience projects. In addition, the law expands the scope of the state’s "green bank," the Connecticut Green Bank , beyond clean energy to adaptation- and resilience-related projects, with an emphasis on prioritizing financing for frontline communities.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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June 30, 2021
Extreme heat causes more deaths than any other weather-related hazard. Due to the legacy of racially discriminatory redlining practices and long-term lack of investment in their communities, people of color in urban areas are disproportionately exposed to high temperatures and suffer greater consequences. To help policymakers and communities address this public health threat, the Georgetown Climate Center is releasing Community-Informed Heat Relief: Policy Options for Addressing Urban Extreme Heat in High-Risk Communities to inform a new comprehensive heat plan currently being developed by the District of Columbia, and to serve as a resource for other cities impacted by urban extreme heat.
Author or Affiliated User: Katherine McCormick
Resource Category: Planning
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May 13, 2021
On May 12, 2021, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill (S. B. ) 1954, Statewide Flooding and Sea-Level Rise Resilience, into law (Fla. Stat. § 380. 093 (2021)). Among other provisions, the law establishes the Resilient Florida Grant Program to build regional and local resilience and requires the state develop a statewide flood vulnerability and sea-level rise data assessment and Statewide Flooding and Sea-Level Rise Resilience Plan. The purpose of the law is to determine flooding risks related to increased precipitation, extreme weather, and sea-level rise and initiate a coordinated statewide effort to adapt to these risks.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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April 10, 2021
On April 10, 2021, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo signed the Rhode Island 2021 Act on Climate into law, amending the Resilient Rhode Island Act of 2014 by making mandatory greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions targets more enforceable, adding a goal of net-zero by 2050, and requiring actions to promote equity and environmental justice. The new law requires the state Climate Council — established by the 2014 bill — to develop and periodically update a plan to reach these goals. New language also requires the state Council’s plan to include an equitable transition, and address environmental injustices.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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January 2021
The U. S. Water Alliance’s report “Recovering Stronger: A Federal Policy Blueprint” was released in early 2021 and addresses the acute needs of the nation’s municipal water infrastructure resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic as well as long-term underfunding of water resources infrastructure and inequities in access to clean water. The report makes recommendations for how the federal government could make funding for municipal water resources more stable; make water supplies safer; improve access to safe drinking water and wastewater treatment in low-income communities, communities of color, and rural communities; modernize the water sector; improve resilience to climate change; and take a whole-of-government approach to managing the nation’s water resources.
Resource Category: Solutions
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