Taking Action on Climate Change and Building a More Resilient Connecticut for All: Phase I Report

The Phase I report by the Connecticut Governor’s Council on Climate Change (GC3) -- Taking Action on Climate Change and Building a More Climate Resilient Connecticut for All -- released January 2021, contains a wide array of recommendations for improving Connecticut’s resilience to climate change that can be implemented by early 2022. An Adaptation and Resilience plan is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2021 and will include recommendations on longer term policies. The report and forthcoming adaptation plan were called for in an executive order issued in September 2019.

The report gives specific recommendations on adaptation in the following sectors and sub-sectors:

  • Working and Natural Lands:
    • Agriculture
    • Forests
    • Rivers
    • Wetlands
  • Infrastructure and Land Use
  • Public Health and Safety
  • Financing and Funding Adaptation and Resilience
  • Science and Technology

The report also contains recommendations on reductions of net greenhouse gas emissions (mitigation).

The report was developed in response to Connecticut Executive Order 3, issued by Governor Ned Lamont in September 2019. The E.O. calls for a report on implementation of the state’s mitigation plans and development of an Adaptation and Resilience Plan for Connecticut along with a framework for reporting on vulnerable state assets. The EO creates an Equity and Justice Environmental Working Group and requires all recommendations be viewed through an equity lens.

Equity is a key focus of the report. The Governor’s Executive Order No. 3 requires that the Adaptation and Resilience Plan must protect communities that will be disproportionately affected by climate change. The report states that the principles of equity require that race, national origin, socioeconomic status, sexuality and gender identity, and other facets of identity not inhibit an individual’s access to basic necessities, including shelter, water, food, heat, light, employment, education, transportation, health care, and mental health care. The Equity and Environmental Justice recommendations include:

  • Providing funding for a community engagement strategy to inform the GC3 process;
  • Using a mapping tool that displays the spatial distribution of environmental and health climate vulnerabilities and social determinants of health; and
  • Establishing community resilience programs that ensure that there is more funding for municipalities with disadvantaged populations.

 

The report was developed by the GC3, which includes representatives from state government, local governments, the private sector, environmental organizations, and academia. Working groups were created for Equity and Environmental Justice, Mitigation (with sector specific subgroups), and for each adaptation sector and sub-sector listed in the bullets above.

 

Publication Date: January 2021

Related Organizations:

  • Connecticut Governor's Council on Climate Change (GC3)

Sectors:

Resource Category:

Resource Types:

  • Adaptation plan

States Affected:

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