Transcript Presentation - 15th TRB National Transportation Planning

Addressing Transportation &
Global Climate Change:
What do DOTs and MPOs
Need?
Peter Plumeau & Greg Spitz
Resource Systems Group, Inc.
Prepared for
TRB Planning Applications
Conference
May 17, 2009
Context
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Context
“The impacts [of GCC] will be widespread
and costly in both human and economic
terms and will require significant changes
in the planning, design, construction,
operation, and maintenance of
transportation systems.”
- TRB Special Report, March 2008
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Context
US Transport Sector, CO2 Emissions, 1947-2007
2,500
2,000
~2% CAGR
MMT CO2
1,500
1,000
500
06
20
03
20
00
20
97
19
94
19
91
19
88
19
85
19
82
19
79
19
76
19
73
19
70
19
67
19
64
19
61
19
58
19
55
19
52
19
19
49
-
Y ear
Source: Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 2007 (DOE/EIA-0573(2007)), 3 Dec. 2008
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Context
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Background
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Background
 Four FHWA peer workshops on climate
change & transportation during 2008
 Participants from MPOs and DOTs across the
country
 Focused on sharing information,
experiences and needs
 Provide input and feedback to FHWA on
climate change issues
 Documented in reports on FHWA website
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Background
DOTs & MPOs
Participating in Peer
Exchanges in 2008
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Peer Exchanges
Findings
Participant Perspectives
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Findings
 Significant inconsistencies across states and
regions in goals and action plans
 GCC Action Plans generally stop at state or
MPO boundaries
 DOTs sometimes not part of state-level
action plans/strategy development
 Most focus has been on GHG mitigation,
with little comprehensive assessment or
action on adaptation
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Participant Perspectives
Recognize that this is a global issue - our
response needs to be national in scope and
scale
We need to expand the knowledge base
and educate decision-makers and the
public to build awareness & credibility
We must address climate change in a
multidisciplinary manner, with transport
as a prominent aspect
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Participant Perspectives
 Climate change planning in transportation
needs to be performance based and employ
appropriate measures of effectiveness
 Goals & efforts across jurisdictions, institutions
and economic sectors need to be harmonized
 Analytical tools and methods need to be
shored up and improved to ensure credible
planning and priority-setting
 Need to provide many DOTs & MPOs with
financial & technical resources
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What Do DOTs & MPOs Need?
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Need – Technical Capacity-building
 Key technical assistance and research needs
include:
 GHG emission scenario analysis tools relevant to
geography being assessed
 identifying, inventorying and managing critical
transportation infrastructure
 risk management approaches and methodologies
 flexible design standards that account for changing
conditions and unique local situations
 DOTs and MPOs want access to best
practices information and informationsharing
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Need – Geographically-relevant Data
 Access to robust, reliable and
geographically-relevant data on climate
change forecasts and impacts is important
 These data drive adequate and cost-effective
planning of adaptation investments and
management of long-range risk
 Also important for assessments of EJrelated issues associated with adaptation
strategies and for educating land use
decision-makers
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Need – Cross-agency/jurisdiction Coordination & Collaboration
 Inter-agency & inter-jurisdictional partnerships
and cooperation are key to addressing climate
change
 Strategies need to integrate different disciplines
within & across agencies (e.g., design,
engineering, planning, finance, etc.)
 Partners must agree on near-term actions &
investments that have long-term (e.g., decades in
the future) benefits
 “Lead agency” designation should not supersede
cooperative and collaborative decision-making
process
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Need – Ramp Up Public Outreach & Education
 Extensive education & outreach needed on
climate change and its impacts directed at
the public and policy-makers nationwide
 DOTs & MPOs can pursue a specific GCC
initiatives only if decision-makers &
constituents have a common understanding
of impacts and implications
 Particularly important with so many
immediate priorities competing for limited
funds
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Conclusion
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Conclusion
What are the Risks?
o
GMT Change: +3.5 C
Impacts Essentially
Irreversible (2001)
o
GMT Change: +2.0 C
2001
Assessment
2009
Assessment
Impacts Essentially
Irreversible (2009)
Based on: Assessing dangerous climate change
through an update of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ‘‘reasons for
concern’’ (Proceedings of the NAS, Feb. 2009)
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Conclusion
Planners are accustomed to dealing with
linear projections and linear change.
Nonlinear change…is difficult for
established institutions to deal with
successfully (and may even be considered
a threat to the established order).
TRB Special Report, March 2008
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Conclusion
Most Critical Needs are Leadership &
Innovation
Policy-makers
Agency Executives
Transportation & Planning
Professionals
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Climate change is not like other [issues]
that we’ve dealt with before; it’s a
larger and more global issue that must
take agencies beyond “business as
usual” so they can offer real solutions
to the problem
Participant in Transportation & Climate
Change Peer Exchange, Sept. 2008
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For More Information
Reports available at:
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hep/climate/activities.htm
Contact:
Peter Plumeau
Resource Systems Group, Inc.
[email protected]
802.383.0118 x301
Greg Spitz
Resource Systems Group, Inc.
[email protected]
802.295.4999
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