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.
214 results are shown below.
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Resource
December 2015
Funded by the Town Creek Foundation of Maryland, Skeo Solutions evaluated Maryland’s 2013 Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act Plan - to determine the effects of the plan on state programs and disadvantaged communities. Aimed at enhancing social equity outcomes in Maryland’s climate planning, the programs were analyzed as to whether they benefit or reduce impacts on vulnerable communities - in order to identify programatic improvements, and the need for new initiatives. In addition, a number of long-term recommendations are offered to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance climate adaptation planning.
Author or Affiliated User: Marcus Griswold
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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December 1, 2015
Ready to Respond: Strategies for Multifamily Building Resilience is a compilation of strategies for retrofitting affordable housing buildings in order to make these properties more resilient against climate hazards and extreme weather events. Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. (Enterprise) developed the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funded resilience manual to provide guidance to affordable multifamily building owners on retrofit strategies that will help protect and adapt their properties to a variety of climate hazards typical to the Northeastern United States.
Resource Category: Solutions
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November 2015
From the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), this report explores the increased risks faced by socially vulnerable populations to sea-level rise. Building on prior research finding that elderly, minorities, and poor populations will be disproportionately affected by climate change, the paper presents an analytical framework for identifying “climate equity hotspots,” or places where socially vulnerable people live that are also at high risk for coastal flooding.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Rachel Cleetus, Ramon Bueno, Kristina Dahl
Resource Category: Assessments
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November 2015
Social Equity and Climate Change is a “discussion paper about community resilience” from the Washington State Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA). This Brief describes social equity issues specifically related to the impacts of climate change, and includes a broader examination of issues of social equity in planning and public policy at the community level. The paper consists of “Strategies to Promote Social Equity in Adapting to Climate Change Effects” which focus on five issues of particular importance for vulnerable populations:
Learn about communities and find a reading list that will help you think through resilient affordable housing strategies.
Resource Category: Planning
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October 28, 2015
This report by the Center for American Progress assesses the recovery of New York’s and New Jersey’s middle- and low-income communities three years after Hurricane Sandy devastated the region in 2012. The report analyzes the challenges encountered by state and city leaders to help reduce displacement of people in the days and years following the storm, as well as innovative policies that emerged to prevent future extreme weather and climate displacement. The Center also highlights the important role that community groups play as citizen first responders, liaisons to government officials, and in long-term housing and recovery efforts.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Danielle Baussan, Miranda Peterson
Resource Category: Solutions
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October 27, 2015
This document provides background information and guidance to Louisiana’s state and local governments on the retreat and resettlement process, and outlines the strategy for the ongoing resettlement of the Isle de Jean Charles Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Native American community. As sea level rise and land loss threaten Louisiana’s low-lying regions, coastal communities must consider the costs and benefits of retreat and resettlement. The report provides a history of resettlement in the United States and makes the case that the resettlement of Isle de Jean Charles is just the beginning of more resettlement projects in the region.
Resource Category: Planning
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October 14, 2015
This report from the Clean Energy Group uses project data for buildings in New York, Chicago, and Washington, D. C. , to examine the financial case for installing solar photovoltaics (PV) and battery storage systems (“solar+storage”) to support multifamily affordable housing. With the right market structures and incentives, solar+storage systems can provide an economic return, on par with energy efficiency or stand-alone solar. They can also help make affordable housing energy resilient by guaranteeing power for common area lighting, water, and communications.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Lew Milford, Robert Sanders, Seth Mullendore
Resource Category: Solutions
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October 2015
In October 2015, officials within the Missouri Department of Economic Development and the Division of Energy released the Comprehensive State Energy Plan, which outlined recommendations that would help the state transition to cleaner, more affordable, and more reliable energy. As a result of numerous public meetings and significant stakeholder participation, the agencies were able to divide their recommendations into five categories that would help Missouri achieve its energy goals: promoting efficiency of use; ensuring affordability; diversifying and promoting security in supply; undertaking regulatory improvements; and stimulating innovation, emerging technologies, and job creation. Compliance with these statewide recommendations will help to create new jobs, expand the economy, facilitate more efficient use of energy in all sectors, and help households more effectively manage their energy budgets – all in a more equitable manner. The Plan is a living document that serves as a resource for all elected officials, communities, businesses, and even individuals. In local, frontline communities especially, it is intended to serve as the basis for developing community-specific plans that not only emphasize its energy resources, but the priorities of the area.
Resource Category: Planning
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August 19. 2015
This report describes how climate-related extreme weather events exacerbate existing socioeconomic inequalities. In this case, the report highlights the disproportionate challenges experienced by frontline communities during the California drought that began in 2012, which includes communities of color and low-income people living in tribal, rural, and farming communities. The report discusses the following topics: the causes and severity of California’s drought; the drought’s impacts on the national food system; demographics, water rights, and drought impacts in agricultural communities; and policy recommendations.
Author or Affiliated User: Wendy Ortiz
Resource Category: Solutions
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August 18, 2015
This issue brief by the Center for American Progress discusses how climate change and extreme weather events are contributing to an increase in the displacement of Americans from their homes and communities. The article reviews the impacts of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 including the effects of displacement of 1. 5 million people in the region; and describes the thousands more people that have been displaced by other extreme weather disasters. The analysis recommends several steps that policymakers can take to find and assist climate-displaced people, highlighting the compounded impacts on vulnerable populations.
Author or Affiliated User: Danielle Baussan
Resource Category: Assessments
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