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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Resource
May 2017
From the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN), this guide is aimed at local government and outlines a framework for designing and implementing a community-driven, equitable climate preparedness planning process. Community-driven planning empowers those experiencing the greatest climate risks to co-define the solutions. Rather than treating equity as a component of climate preparedness planning, this guide suggests that equity should be at the center of any adaptation approach. It outlines why traditional planning falls short of supporting equity, describes why climate change vulnerability is not evenly spread, and identifies how typical adaptation strategies can be reframed to focus on equity. Throughout the document, examples from cities are presented to showcase real-world applications.
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Authors or Affiliated Users: Tina Yuen , Eric Yurkovich , Beth Altshuler , Lauren Grabowski
Resource Category: Planning
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Resource
May 2017
From the Center for Progressive Reform, this paper provides an analysis of the legal, policy, and corporate tools to acquire and govern land to relocate a community. It presents the most promising approaches that could feed into workable strategies for land acquisition, with the aim of protecting people and property in the short term, promoting climate resiliency in the long-term, and maintaining important cultural and economic assets. A number of case studies are included, many of which are focused on Native Americans and Alaskan Natives, since sea level rise and in turn coastal relocation is a present issue among these communities.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Maxine Burkett, Robert R.M. Verchick, David Flores
Resource Category: Solutions
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Resource
March 2017
The Innovation Network for Communities’ Essential Capacities for Urban Climate Adaptation report provides a review of the promising practices in urban adaptation, a summary of recent advances in the field, and a roadmap for communities to continue advancing adaptation practices.
Resource Category: Solutions
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Resource
2017
This RAND study examined how recent changes to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) would affect the affordability of insurance for homeowners and business in New York City. New floodplain maps in the city are expanding the number of homes and businesses that must carry flood insurance and increasing the rate of insurance for many structures. Legal changes to the NFIP are also phasing in rate hikes for many insureds. Using flood vulnerable areas in New York City as the study area, this study examined how these changes in the NFIP would affect the affordability of flood insurance.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Lloyd Dixon, Noreen Clancy, Benjamin Miller, Sue Hoegberg, Michael M. Lewis, Bruce Bender, Samara Ebinger, Mel Hodges, Gayle M. Syck, Caroline Nagy, Scott R. Choquette
Resource Category: Planning
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Resource
March 9, 2017
This report summarizes efforts, under Mayor Megan Berry, to make Nashville the “greenest city in the Southeast. ” The authors argue that, while recent planning by the Nashville-Davidson Metropolitan Planning Commission are likely to enhance environmental quality, more must be done to address poverty and historical inequities. Specific to climate adaptation, the report delineates how regional climate change will disproportionately impact low-income communities in Nashville, and describes how proposed initiatives can be expanded or adjusted to enhance equitable outcomes.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Miranda Peterson , Cathleen Kelly
Resource Category: Planning
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February 15, 2017
This summary report describes the conversations and discussions of participants during a two-day workshop help in April 2016 focusing on on city-level actions that would support social justice goals and better prepare communities for the effects of climate change. The workshop convened nearly 50 thought leaders on equity and climate adaptation, including city officials, representatives of environmental justice and social justice organizations, state and federal partners, and funders who support this work.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Melissa Deas , Jessica Grannis , James DeWeese , Sara Hoverter
Resource Category: Planning
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February 1, 2017
This report identifies market barriers to deploying solar and energy storage technologies in low-income markets, and proposes more than 50 grant and investment opportunities that socially-minded investors can use to target those barriers. Solar and energy storage can further climate adaptation by helping communities avoid power outages. The report includes a detailed analysis of the energy market and a matrix of interventions organized according to market participant, barriers, and difficulty.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Lew Milford, Robert Sanders
Resource Category: Solutions
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Resource
January 2017
This report focuses on ways that local governments can prepare for climate change impacts through land use and building policies. The report focuses on smart growth strategies that offer multiple benefits beyond climate preparedness including cost-savings, energy efficiency, increasing transportation options, and building economic opportunities. The strategies presented in the report are categorized as modest adjustments, major modifications, and wholesale changes, in order to help local governments determine which options are most appropriate for their own community.
Author or Affiliated User: Megan Susman
Resource Category: Solutions
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Resource
2017
New York City’s Universal Access to Legal Representation Law (or Right to Counsel (RTC)) is the first in the country to provide right-to-counsel in housing cases. The 2017 law allocates $155 million over five years to a program that provides free legal representation to tenants for eviction or other housing-related matters. Since its inception, the program has raised the number of represented tenants from 10 to over 27%, decreased evictions by 23%, and has saved the city an estimated $320 million per year. Initially implemented in the Bronx, the program is set to expand to other boroughs beginning in 2020.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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Resource
2017
Climate Resilient and Equitable Water Systems (CREWS) consists of 24 nonprofits - Kresge Foundation grantees - who are building solutions for low-income communities in U. S. cities to adapt to climate enhanced storm and flood impacts. CREWS programs are transforming urban stormwater and wastewater systems with climate resilient integrated water-management practices and socially equitable solutions. CREWS is an initiative of the Kresge Foundation’s Environment Program, focused on climate resilience through adaptation, mitigation, and social justice.
Resource Category: Solutions
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