Adaptation actions can be implemented reactively, after changes in climate occur, or proactively, to prepare for a changing climate.¹ Proactively preparing can reduce the harm from certain climate change impacts, such as increasingly intense extreme events, shifting zones for agricultural crops, and rising sea levels, while also facilitating a more rapid and efficient response to changes as they happen.

FEDERAL: A November 2013 Executive Order calls for, among other things, modernizing federal programs to support climate resilient investments, managing lands and waters for climate preparedness and resilience, creating a Council on Climate Preparedness and Resilience, and the creation of a State, Local, and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience.² Federal agencies are all required to plan for adaptation. Actions include coordinated efforts at the White House, regional and cross-sector efforts, agency-specific adaptation plans, and support for local-level adaptation planning and action.

STATE: States have become important actors in national climate change related efforts. State governments can create policies and programs that encourage or discourage adaptation at other governance scales (such as counties or regions)^3,4 through regulation and by serving as laboratories for innovation.^5,6 Although many of these actions are not specifically designed to address climate change, they often include climate adaptation components. Many state level climate change-specific adaptation actions focus on planning. As of winter 2012, at least 15 states had completed climate adaptation plans; four states are in the process of writing their plans; and seven states have made recommendations to create state-wide adaptation plans.⁷

TRIBES: Tribal governments have been particularly active in assessing and preparing for the impacts of climate change. Some are using traditional knowledge gleaned from elders, stories, and songs and combining this knowledge with downscaled climate data to inform decision-making.⁸ Others have integrated climate change into decision-making in major sectors, such as education, fisheries, social services, and human health.⁹

LOCAL: Most adaptation efforts to date have occurred at local and regional levels. A survey of 298 U.S. local governments shows 59% engaged in some form of adaptation planning.¹⁰ Mechanisms used by local governments to prepare for climate change include: land-use planning; provisions to protect infrastructure and ecosystems; regulations related to the design and construction of buildings, road, and bridges; and preparation for emergency response and recovery.^{11,12,13,14,15,16} Local adaptation planning and actions are unfolding in municipalities of different sizes. Regional agencies and regional aggregations of governments too are taking actions.^17,18

Adaptation Example: The Southeast Florida Regional Compact

Miami-Dade County staff leading workshop on incorporating climate change considerations in local planning.

Courtesy Armando Rodriguez, Miami-Dade County

The Southeast Florida Regional Compact is a joint commitment among Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, and Monroe Counties to partner in reducing heat-trapping gas emissions and adapting to climate impacts, including in transportation, water resources, natural resources, agriculture, and disaster risk reduction. Through the collaboration of county, state, and federal agencies, a comprehensive action plan was developed that includes hundreds of actions. Notable policies include regional collaboration to revise building codes and land development regulations to discourage new development or post-disaster redevelopment in vulnerable areas¹⁹

 

BUSINESS: Many companies are concerned about how climate change will affect feedstock, water quality, infrastructure, core operations, supply chains, and customers’ ability to use products and services.²⁰ Some companies are taking action to avoid risk and explore potential opportunities, such as: developing or expanding into new products, services, and operational areas; extending growing seasons and hours of operation; and responding to increased demand for existing products and services.^{20,21,22,23,24}

NGOs: Non-governmental organizations have played significant roles in the national effort to prepare for climate change by providing assistance to stakeholders that includes planning guidance, implementation tools, explanations of climate information, best practices, and help with bridging the science-policy divide.

See regional sections of this Highlights report for additional examples of adaptation efforts. Selected federal, state, tribal, and local actions appear in the Adaptation chapter of the full National Climate Assessment.

Adaptation to climate change is in a nascent stage. The federal government is beginning to develop institutions and practices necessary to cope with climate change. While the federal government will remain the funder of emergency responses following extreme events for which communities were not adequately prepared, an emerging federal role is to enable and facilitate early adaptation within states, regions, local communities, and the public and private sectors.¹ The approaches include working to limit current institutional constraints to effective adaptation, funding pilot projects, providing useful and usable adaptation information – including disseminating best practices, and helping develop tools and techniques to evaluate successful adaptation.

Despite emerging efforts, the pace and extent of adaptation activities are not proportional to the risks to people, property, infrastructure, and ecosystems from climate change; important opportunities available during the normal course of planning and management of resources are also being overlooked. A number of state and local governments are engaging in adaptation planning, but most have not taken action to implement the plans.²⁵ Some companies in the private sector and numerous non-governmental organizations have also taken early action, particularly in capitalizing on the opportunities associated with facilitating adaptive actions. Actions and collaborations have occurred across all scales. At the same time, barriers to effective implementation continue to exist.

The amount of future climate change will largely be determined by choices society makes about emissions. Lower emissions of heat trapping gases and particles mean less future warming and less severe impacts; higher emissions mean more warming and more severe impacts. Efforts to limit emissions or increase carbon uptake fall into a category of response options known as “mitigation.”

Carbon dioxide accounted for 84% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2011.²⁶ The vast majority (97%) of this CO₂ comes from energy use. Thus, the most direct way to reduce future climate change is to reduce emissions from the energy sector by using energy more efficiently and switching to lower carbon energy sources.

In 2011, 41% of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions were attributable to liquid fuels (petroleum), followed closely by solid fuels (principally coal in electric generation), and to a lesser extent by natural gas.²⁶ Electric power generation (coal and gas) and transportation (petroleum) are the sectors predominantly responsible.

Achieving the lower emissions path (B1) analyzed in this assessment would require substantial decarbonization of the global economy by the end of this century, implying a fundamental transformation of the global energy system. The principal types of national actions that could effect such changes include putting a price on emissions, setting regulations and standards for activities that cause emissions, changing subsidy programs, and direct federal expenditures. Market-based approaches include cap-and-trade programs that establish markets for trading emissions permits, analogous to the Clean Air Act provisions for sulfur dioxide reductions.

None of these price-based measures has been implemented at the national level in the U.S., though cap-and-trade systems are in place in California and in the Northeast’s Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. A wide range of governmental actions are underway at federal, state, regional, and city levels using other measures, as are voluntary efforts, that can reduce the U.S. contribution to total global emissions. Many, if not most of these programs are motivated by other policy objectives – energy, transportation, and air pollution – but some are directed specifically at greenhouse gas emissions, including:

• Energy Efficiency: Reduction in CO₂ emissions from energy end-use and infrastructure through the adoption of energy-efficient components and systems – including buildings, vehicles, manufacturing processes, applicances, and electric grid systems;
• Low-Carbon Energy Sources: Reduction of CO₂ emissions from energy supply through the promotion of renewables (such as wind, solar, and bioenergy), nuclear energy, and coal and natural gas electric generation with carbon capture and storage; and
• Non-CO₂ Emissions: Reduction of emissions of non-CO₂ greenhouse gases and black carbon (soot); for example, by lowering methane emissions from energy and waste, transitioning to climate-friendly alternatives to HFCs, cutting methane and nitrous oxide emissions from agriculture, and improving combustion efficiency and means of particulate capture.

The Federal Government has implemented a number of measures that promote energy efficiency, clean technologies, and alternative fuels.^{27,28,29,30,31} Sample federal measures are provided in Table 27.1 in the Mitigation chapter in the full report. These actions include greenhouse gas regulations, other rules and regulations with climate co-benefits, various standards and subsidies, research and development, and federal procurement practices.

Weatherization can include installing more efficient windows to save energy.

©Carlos Osorio/AP/Corbis

Selected Mitigation Measures

Existing federal laws and regulations to reduce emissions include:

Emissions Standards for Vehicles and Engines

• For light-duty vehicles, rules establishing standards for 2012-2016 model years and 2017-2025 model years.
• For heavy- and medium-duty trucks, a rule establishing standards for 2014-2018 model years.

Appliance and Building Efficiency Standards

• Energy efficiency standards and test procedures for residential, commercial, industrial, lighting, and plumbing products.
• Model residential and commercial building energy codes, and technical assistance to state and local governments, and non-governmental organizations.

Financial Incentives for Efficiency and Alternative Fuels and Technology

• Weatherization assistance for low-income households, tax incentives for commercial and residential buildings and efficient appliances, and support for state and local efficiency programs.

Programs underway that reduce carbon dioxide emissions include the promotion of solar, nuclear, and wind power, and efficient vehicles.

©Don Mason/Blend Images/Corbis; ©Joseph Sohm/Visions of America/Corbis; ©Layne Kennedy/Corbis; ©iStockPhoto.com/SteinPhoto

For example, the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. The Department of Energy provides most of the funding for energy research and development, and also regulates the efficiency of appliances.

The Administration’s Climate Action Plan³² builds on these activities with a broad range of mitigation, adaptation, and preparedness measures. The mitigation elements of the plan are in part a response to the commitment made during the 2010 Cancun Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to reduce U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases by about 17% below 2005 levels by 2020. Actions proposed in the Plan include:

• limiting carbon emissions from both new and existing power plants;
• continuing to increase the stringency of fuel economy standards for automobiles and trucks;
• continuing to improve energy efficiency in the buildings sector;
• reducing the emissions of non-CO₂ greenhouse gases through a variety of measures;
• increasing federal investments in cleaner, more efficient energy sources for both power and transportation; and
• identifying new approaches to protect and restore our forests and other critical landscapes, in the presence of a changing climate.

Co-Benefits for Air Pollution and Human Health

Actions to reduce greenhouse gases can also reduce other air pollutants, yielding human health benefits.

©iStockPhoto.com/SteinPhoto

Actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions can yield co-benefits for objectives apart from climate change, such as energy security, ecosystem services, and biodiversity.^33,34 In particular, there are health co-benefits from reductions in air pollution. Because greenhouse gases and other air pollutants share common sources, particularly from fossil fuel combustion, actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions also reduce other air pollutants.

The human health benefits can be immediate and local, in contrast to the long-term and widespread effects of climate change.³⁵ These efforts have been found to be cost effective.^35,36 Methane reductions have also been shown to generate health benefits from reduced ground-level ozone.³⁷

Jurisdiction for greenhouse gases and energy policies is shared between the Federal government and states.³⁸ For example, states regulate the distribution of electricity and natural gas to consumers, while the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulates wholesale sales and transportation of natural gas and electricity. Many states have adopted climate initiatives as well as energy policies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. For a survey of many of these state activities, see Table 27.2 in the full report. Many cities are taking similar actions.

The most ambitious state activity is California’s Global Warming Solutions Act, with a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The program caps emissions and uses a market-based system of trading in emissions credits, as well as a number of regulatory actions. The most well-known, multi-state effort has been the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), formed by 10 northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states (though New Jersey exited in 2011). RGGI is a cap-and-trade system in the power sector directing revenue from allowance auctions to investments in efficiency and renewable energy.

Corporations, individuals, and non-profit organizations have initiated a host of voluntary actions, including:

• The Carbon Disclosure Project enables companies to measure, disclose, manage, and share climate change and water-use information. Some 650 U.S. signatories include banks, pension funds, asset managers, insurance companies, and foundations.
• More than 1,055 municipalities from all 50 states have signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement,³⁹ and many of these communities are actively implementing strategies to reduce their emissions.
• Federal voluntary programs include Energy STAR, a labeling program that, among other things, identifies energy efficient products for use in residences and commercial and industrial buildings.

Mitigation can involve increasing the uptake of carbon through various means of expanding carbon sinks on land through management of forests and soils.

As a result of human-induced climate change, historically successful strategies for managing climate-sensitive resources and infrastructure will become less effective over time. Decision support processes and tools can help structure decision-making, organize and analyze information, and build consensus around options for action.

Decision-Making Elements and Outcomes Details/Download

Although decision-makers routinely make complex decisions under uncertain conditions, decision-making in the context of climate change can be especially challenging. Reasons include the rapid pace of changes, long time lags between human activities and response of the climate system, the high economic and political stakes, the number and diversity of potentially affected stakeholders, the need to incorporate uncertain scientific information of varying confidence levels, and the values of stakeholders and decision-makers.^42,43,44 The social, economic, psychological, and political dimensions of these decisions underscore the need for ways to improve communication of scientific information and uncertainties and to help decision-makers assess risks and opportunities.

Decision-Making Framework Details/Download

Collaboration: The importance of both scientific information and societal considerations suggests the need for the public, technical experts, and decision-makers to engage in mutual shared learning and shared production of relevant knowledge.^44,45

Uncertainty: An “iterative adaptive risk management framework” is useful for decisions about adaptation and ways to reduce future climate change, especially given uncertainties and ongoing advances in scientific understanding.^40,41 An idealized iterative adaptive risk management process includes clearly defining the issue, establishing decision criteria, identifying and incorporating relevant information, evaluating options, and monitoring and revisiting effectiveness.

Risk Management: Making effective climate-related decisions requires balance among actions intended to manage, reduce, and transfer risk. Risks are threats to life, health and safety, the environment, economic well-being, and other things of value. Methods such as multiple criteria analysis, valuation of both risks and opportunities, and scenarios can help to combine experts’ assessment of climate change risks with public perception of these risks.⁴⁶

Decision Support Case Study: Denver Water

©Photo courtesy Denver Water

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing the Denver Water system. Due to recent and anticipated effects of climate variability and change on water availability, Denver Water faces the challenge of weighing alternative response strategies and is looking at developing options to help meet more challenging future conditions.

Denver Water is using scenario planning in its long-range planning process (looking out to 2050) to consider a range of plausible futures involving climate change, demographic and water use changes, and economic and regulatory changes. The strategy focuses on keeping as many future options open as possible while trying to ensure reliability of current supplies.

The next step for Denver Water is to explore a more technical approach to test their existing plan and identified options against multiple climate change scenarios. Following a modified robust decision-making approach,^47,48 Denver Water will test and hedge its plan and options until those options demonstrate that they can sufficiently handle a range of projected climate conditions.