Delaware Climate Action Plan (2025)

In December of 2025, Delaware published their 2025 Climate Action Plan. As mandated by the 2023 Delaware Climate Change Solutions Act, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC)’s Division of Climate, Coastal, and Energy led the plan’s development. Since the 2021 Climate Action Plan, Delaware has continued to experience increased temperatures, sea-level rise, changing precipitation patterns, and extreme weather. A 2025 survey found that 55% of Delawareans had “personally experienced local impacts of climate change.”

The 2025 plan is an update to the 2021 plan, outlining the primary climate hazards facing Delawareans and what actions can help communities better adapt to the impacts of climate change. In addition to mandating an updated plan every five years, the 2023 Delaware Climate Change Solutions Act also established Technical Climate Advisors and Climate Change Officers. The Advisors are authoritative experts from government, universities, and scientific institutions, and the Officers were placed in each of Delaware’s 9 cabinet-level agencies. Both teams were integral in the development of the 2025 plan.

The substance of the plan is structured around goals, actions, and strategies. Goals are broad and long-term; strategies serve as steps to reach goals; and actions are steps towards a strategy that can be implemented in the short-term. Because the plan is set to be updated again in 2030, the actions are designed to be feasible over a 5-year time frame. Delaware intends for the action items to be used at all levels of decision-making: from state agencies, to local governments, to neighborhoods. The actions are not assigned to specific actors but provided as a variety of possible paths to fulfilling a given strategy. 

Chapter 6, “Protecting our Communities,” names Delaware’s goals, strategies, and actions specific to climate adaptation:

  • Protect people, places, and infrastructure; 
  • Accommodate changing conditions;
  • Avoid future risk; and
  • Help communities strategically retreat from areas that cannot be safely protected.

Extreme Heat

The plan foregrounds extreme heat as one of the primary hazards facing the state, especially due to impacts on human health and the agriculture industry. There has been a 3-degree F increase in average annual temperature since 1895, and the most recent decade was Delaware’s hottest on record.

The strategies and actions in this section focus on communities who experience the effects of extreme heat more acutely. Key action items include improving local heat data collection, communication, and messaging about heat safety and resources, as well as developing best practices for outdoor workers. The report also addresses how infrastructure can be developed or changed to better accommodate rising temperatures. Examples include shade structures and water stations. 

Sea Level Rise, Precipitation, and Inland Flooding

As the lowest-lying state in the country, flooding is a primary climate hazard in Delaware. Due to a multitude of factors—including land subsidence and glacial melt—Delaware is experiencing sea-level rise at a rate of twice the global average. This section includes strategies to better prepare communities for flooding and projected increases in precipitation.

Generally, the section emphasizes updating infrastructure, particularly water infrastructure like sewer lines and stormwater models. Another focal point is bolstering research efforts, both on impacts of sea-level rise and flooding and on preventative measures. Under the strategy “Facilitate research and monitoring to understand the impacts of sea level rise,” one action item is to research a Fortified Building Program based on the Insurance Institute for Building and Home Safety Fortified Standard, similar to the Strengthen Alabama Homes program.

The section also highlights the need for a “multi-decadal strategy for potential strategic retreat from areas highly vulnerable to persistent and repetitive flooding.” The action items included developing a “multiagency statewide coastal resilience plan” informed by both community members and experts that includes strategic retreat options, as well as a statewide education campaign on strategic retreat. 

Emerging Hazards

The report dedicates a section to hazards that, while less common than extreme heat and flooding, have become increasingly likely due to the changing climate. These emerging hazards include, but are not limited to, drought, wildfire, and extreme weather events. Strategies and actions for these emerging hazards include incorporating drought into state policy and planning, increasing understanding of wildfire risk, researching water demand and infrastructure needs, and developing state-specific best management practices. 

The report also identifies developing and enhancing warning systems as a primary goal. Potential action items include increased monitoring by the Center for Environmental Monitoring and Analysis (CEMA) and the Office of the State Climatologist to track cyclones and tornadoes.

Comprehensive Resilience 

In the Comprehensive Resilience section, the plan acknowledges the compounding risks and multidimensional problems that emerge from climate change impacts. The section focuses on the need for partnerships and cross-sectoral collaboration in adaptation planning. 

One of the listed strategies for comprehensive resilience is to “align state investments with long-term resilience goals.” A potential action item to achieve this strategy is via state-sponsored grant programs: incorporating criteria that mandate applicants consider climate resilience in their proposals. Other action items include using GIS mapping tools to identify land parcels with the greatest resilience benefit for conservation and modifying wastewater and waste remediation processes to account for climate considerations. 

The section also underscores increasing collaboration with Delaware’s Indigenous populations and climate education opportunities for students. Another core theme is the importance of accessible and transparent data in effectively implementing adaptation strategies. 

The plan is intended to be a “living document” that requires “continued collaboration and conversation with residents, communities, and stakeholders across the state” to be successful. Consistent with the 2023 Act, progress reports will be issued in both 2027 and 2029 before the next plan is published in 2030. DNREC will work through the State Agency Climate Change Officers and the Governor’s Energy Advisory Council to track progress.

 

Publication Date: December 2025

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