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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September 14, 2016
California AB 2722 creates the Transformative Climate Communities Program, and requires the CA Strategic Growth Council to award competitive grants to specified eligible entities for the development of “transformative” climate community plans. Priority is to be given to projects that implement the community plans, improve air and water quality, contribute to the reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases and demonstrate potential climate, economic, workforce, health, and environmental benefits in disadvantaged communities.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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September 14, 2016
AB 1550 requires a minimum of 25% of proceeds from California’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF, established by SB 535) to be invested in projects located directly within disadvantaged communities, with an additional 20% designated for projects that benefit low income households regardless of where they are located within California.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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August 4, 2016
On August 4, 2016, Sacramento’s City Council unanimously approved a revised tree ordinance that provides additional clarity on how the city manages trees on both public and private property. The ordinance describes trees as an essential part of the city - providing scenic beauty, increasing oxygen levels, promoting ecological balance, providing natural ventilation and air quality improvements, preventing erosion, increasing property values, and improving quality of life. The ordinance combines three prior ordinances into a single ordinance, and updates policies to more stringently protect Sacramento’s tree canopy.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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2016
In this report, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and the Regional Plan Association present best practices for state and local governments to encourage residents and communities vulnerable to flooding to relocate from coastal and riverine areas through managed retreat. Based on the experiences of communities in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut following Hurricanes Sandy (2012) and Irene (2011), the report summarizes the political, social, and economic challenges of using buyouts and acquisitions as an adaptation strategy.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Robert Freudenberg, Ellis Calvin, Laura Tolkoff, Dare Brawley
Resource Category: Solutions
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July 7, 2016
The Newark Municipal Council passed the Environmental Justice and Cumulative Impacts Ordinance to address long standing health disparities among Newark’s poorest communities. While the ordinance is not specifically about climate change, it does provide a mechanism to address cumulative environmental impacts that lead to the disproportionate climate risks on low-income residents and people of color. This ordinance requires industrial and commercial development proposals to include information about cumulative environmental impacts that will allow decisionmakers and the public to make an informed decision if the development meets the city’s sustainability goals.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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June 2016
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) produced this overview describing how the impacts of climate change in the transportation sector can disproportionately affect environmental justice (EJ) communities. The report recommends considerations for transportation providers to ensure that climate adaptation measures do not exacerbate these impacts. The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) policy statement on climate change previously specified that USDOT will address inequalities and EJ issues related to climate change and adaptation efforts.
Resource Category: Solutions
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May 4, 2016
In May 2016, the City Council of Satellite Beach in Brevard County, Florida approved Ordinance 1113, amending the Infrastructure, Coastal Management and Conservation, Intergovernmental Coordination, and Capital Improvements sections of the town’s Comprehensive Plan to adopt Adaptation Action Areas and a shared planning horizon and sea-level curve for city projects.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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April, 2016
In April 2016, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously passed a groundbreaking ordinance to address environmental justice concerns within three distinct neighborhoods: Boyle Heights, Pacoima-Sun Valley, and Wilmington. For decades, these three communities – comprised primarily of low-income, Latinx individuals and families – suffered a wide range of health effects, due mostly to the high concentration of polluting industrial sites within their neighborhoods. To address these inequalities, LA City Council passed and implemented the Clean Up Green Up Ordinance with a three-pronged goal in mind: (1) to reduce pollution in the most toxic, hotspot areas; (2) to prevent additional pollution; and (3) to revitalize these neighborhoods through supporting local businesses and economic development.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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April 22, 2016
The City of Seattle, Washington released an Equity and Environment Agenda in 2016 - a plan that lays out policy goals and strategies for addressing race and social justice in environmental programs and ensuring benefits are shared by all residents equally.
Resource Category: Solutions
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April 2016
In 2016, when the risk of Zika virus in the United States became higher, the mayor of New Orleans brought together public and private partners to proactively manage those risks and protect the city’s most vulnerable residents. By activating the local public health department, the Board of mosquito control, local physicians, environmental experts, and community members, the government was able to create a comprehensive Zika response plan to protect the public, especially pregnant women. In the first phase, partners educated the public on risks and mitigation strategies, especially healthcare providers and facilities. The city also stepped up vector control to reduce risk and surveillance of mosquito populations to ensure effectiveness. This combination of efforts was intended to ensure that Phases 2 and 3 of the Plan (activated in the case of reported cases of Zika) would be delayed or unnecessary due to preventive measures. By focusing education efforts for the public and healthcare entities on the risk to the most vulnerable subgroup of residents, the partners could ensure that pregnant women would be well-protected. The efforts were funded by general public health funding streams.
Resource Category: Planning
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