Dive brief:
- The White House today released its pre-eminent report on climate change. The Fifth National Climate Assessment notes that although annual US greenhouse gas emissions fell 12% between 2005 and 2019are the extreme weather events fueled by climate change rapidly intensifyingincreasingly costly and disproportionately harming overburdened and underserved communities.
- Along with the report, the Biden administration announced more than $6 billion for climate resilience programsincluding those to reduce flood risk, strengthen the power grid and address the environmental justice needs of communities.
- The climate assessment for the first time includes a chapter on the economic impacts of climate change and opportunities for climate action, i a chapter on social systems and justice. The report includes a web-based map showing climate projections at state and county leveland the White House plans to release information from 13 recent roundtables remained in climate resilience.
Diving knowledge:
The term “climate resilience” has come to describe how communities can survive being increasingly battered by floods, drought, wildfires, storms and heat waves.
The National Climate Assessment cost estimates Extreme weather events don’t account for deaths, health care-related costs, or damage to ecosystems, but the annual price tag still comes to at least $150 billion. the nation now he sees a disaster which costs at least $1 billion every three weeks. In the 1980s, such events happened every four months.
Despite the nation’s progress in reducing climate pollution, it is not routed to fulfill its national and international commitments, warns the report. To do this, the United States would have to reduce annual emissions by more than 6% per year on average to reach net zero emissions by 2050. This is a large increase from the less than 1% per year that the nation reduces greenhouse gas emissions between 2005 and 2019.
In other words, the race is for communities to prepare for increasing climate change, which is primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels. The National Climate Assessment notes that since 2018, the number of climate adaptation plans and actions at city and state level has increased by 32%. But as with mitigation, these adaptation efforts are insufficient to keep pace with future climate change, the report warns.
Most of the nation’s adaptation actions are what the report calls “incremental” instead of “transformer”.For example, people just use more air conditioning during heat waves instead of redesigning cities and buildings to cope with high temperatures. Communities can use less water during droughts instead of matching water-intensive industries with projected rainfall patterns. Transformative change means directing new housing developments to less flood-prone areas, rather than elevating homes above floodwaters., says the report.
According to the report, transformative adaptation is most effective when it takes into account disparities in how and why people are affected by climate change. “Some examples include understand how different levels of access to disaster assistance constrain recovery outcomes or how disaster damage exacerbates long-term wealth inequality,” he says.
The also say the authors of the report that the adaptation measures with the greatest potential for long-term benefits are those that are developed with inclusive and participatory planning together with coordinated governance and financing. They point to states like California and Florida that have informal regional partnerships.
The funding Biden announced today includes:
- $2 billion for local environmental justice projects through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate and Environmental Justice Community Change Grants program.
- $300 million for flood resilience through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Swift Current Initiative.
- 3.9 billion dollars to strengthen the country’s electricity grid through the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships program.
- 100 million dollars for the improvement of water infrastructure in the West to increase drought resilience.
