Transcript Regionalizing Climate Action

Regionalizing
Climate Action
Jessica Johnston, Sr. Program Manager
Our Changing Climate
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Adapted from: Anthropogenic and natural warming inferred from changes in Earth’s energy balance
Our Climate Future
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https://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg1/en/figure-spm-5.html
What a 2-4˚Increase Could Mean
Hotter summers ● Increase in the intensity of precipitation ● Droughts
Per Degree of Change:
• 5-10% changes in precipitation across many regions
• 3-10% increases in the amount of rain falling during the
heaviest precipitation events
• 5-10% changes in streamflow across many river basins
• 5-15% reductions in the yields of crops as currently grown
• 200-400% increases in the area burned by wildfire in parts of
the western United States
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National Academy of Sciences: http://dels.nas.edu/resources/static-assets/materials-based-on-reports/booklets/warming_world_final.pdf
Local and Global Perspective
11%
Global cereal
demand expected to
rise 1.2% per year
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What do we do?
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The Role of Urbanization
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2025
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Why Cities Matter
Bloomberg found that cities could reduce annual CO2 emissions from five key sources
within their control by 8 gigatonnes by 2050. That would be equivalent to half the
emissions caused by the annual burning of coal today.
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Climate Impacts are Local
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National Climate Assessment: http://nca2014.globalchange.gov/report/sectors/urban
What US Local Governments are Saying
DO NOT have a
sustainability plan
Adopted a
climate
adaptation plan
Address climate
change
Adopted a
climate
mitigation plan
Have no staffing, goals, task forces or
committees addressing sustainability
BARRIERS
Elected Officials
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Lack of
information on
how to proceed
Lack of
Funding
The data are preliminary results from a survey that is part of a research project led by
Cornell University professor Mildred Warner and funded by the National Science Foundation
Thinking of Climate Resiliency as a Shared Service
• Critical services cross
city/county borders
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Power
Water
• Environmental assets
rarely follow jurisdictional
lines
Public
Health
Schools
Public
Safety
• Small/Medium size
communities don’t have
the funding to tackle
challenges on their own
Solid
Waste
Mgt.
Public
Safety
Parks &
Rec
Transport
• Local governments can’t
afford to wait for state
and federal action
Preparing and Adapting to
Climate Change
The Case for Regionalization
• Ability to leverage small amounts of fiscal
resources for staff investment
• Garnering the attention of state and
federal agencies with funding for adaptive
infrastructure
• Allows for knowledge sharing that
contributes to process improvements and
efficiencies
• Creates the foundation for a collaborative
environment
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What does regional action look like?
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Develop annual Legislative Programs
and jointly advocate for state and
federal policies and funding
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Dedicate staff time and resources to
create a Southeast Florida Regional
Climate Action Plan to include
mitigation and adaptation strategies
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Meet annually in Regional Climate
Summits to mark progress and identify
emerging issues.
Compact Accomplishments
• Unified sea level rise projections
• Regional GHG baseline
• Regional inundation mapping
• Regional Climate Action Plan
• 6 Climate Leadership Summits with
public and private sector
participation
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3 Working Groups
110
Action Items
5.6 M
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People in the Region
4 Counties │ 100+ Cities
Organizational Structure
Mayors, Managers
and/or
Commissions
Policy
Development,
Coordination &
Advocacy Team
Compact
Staff
Steering
Committee
Regional Work
Groups
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Summit
Planning Team
Who is taking notice and what’s happening?
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Take-aways from the SE Florida and Durban Experience
1. Find your elected and staff
champions
2. People aren’t excited about what
they don’t understand….Train,
train, train
3. Use community participation tools
to prioritize climate actions
4. Integrate climate into larger
strategic visioning efforts
5. Measure to understand successes
and failures
6. Don’t keep score, keep
encouraging
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Other Examples
San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative is a regional
forum for public agencies to share expertise and leverage
resources to facilitate climate action planning.
Western
Adaptation
Alliance
WAA brings together 13 cities in the Southwest U.S. who have
similar climate adaptation challenges to learn from and
support each other as they develop and implement their
individual adaptation strategies and programs.
King County and eleven Washington cities — Bellevue, Burien,
Issaquah, Kirkland, Mercer Island, Redmond, Renton, Seattle,
Shoreline, Snoqualmie, and Tukwila — are collaborating
through the King County-Cities Climate Collaboration (K4C) to
coordinate and enhance the effectiveness of local
government climate and sustainability action.
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The Los Angeles Regional Collaborative for Climate Action and
Sustainability (LARC) is a network designed to encourage
greater coordination and cooperation at the local and
regional levels by bringing together leadership from
government, the business community, academia, labor,
environmental and community groups.
Common “Compact” Challenges
• Lack of political will and
sense of urgency
• What will success look like?
How do we measure it?
• Starting point – Working from
similar metrics
• Translating climate science
for the average citizen
• Institutionalizing goals across
sectors
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Local Context: Nebraska’s Climate Future
Low emissions scenarios = 2.2-2.7˚C rise
High emissions scenarios = 4.4-5˚C rise
100 ˚
Days
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Decrease in
Soil Moisture
Reduced Rocky
Mountain Snow
Pack
drought
Increase
frequency and severity
University of Nebraska: Climate Change Implications for Nebraska
http://snr.unl.edu/research/projects/climateimpacts/reportannouncement.asp?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=Web&utm_term=Climate%20change,%20Nebraska&ut
m_content=&utm_campaign=Climate%20Change%20Implications%20for%20Nebraska
Where Nebraska Stands
Equivalent of
53 Million
Morocco
Metric
33Million
Tons
people
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http://www.globalcarbonatlas.org/?q=en/emissions
Nebraska going urban?
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Nebraska Department of Economic Development http://www.neded.org/business/data-a-research/population
Points of entry for Nebraska climate action?
• Agriculture
• Fresh water basins
• Water conservation
• Conservation
• Urban Greening
• Energy usage
• Flood protection
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Getting Started in Your Community
Part 1: Get Started
• Identify needs & gaps in existing resources through meetings with key stakeholders
• Get buy-in from key leaders and agencies to form initial work group
• Set boundaries for the effort
Part 2: Get Organized
• Identify detailed needs of collaborative members
• Develop governance structure
• Craft basic communications strategy
• Secure initial funding
• Engage and build partnerships with the state & federal agencies
• Engage and build partnerships with local universities
Part 3: Get Moving
• Develop initial work plan including timeline
• Conduct early stage activities to work on that will show progress and build trust
Part 4: Get It Right
• Set up process feedback mechanisms to communicate outcomes to stakeholders
• Establish monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for your region
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Adapted from Alliance for Regional Collaborative for Climate Adaptation http://www.arccacalifornia.org/toolkit/
You’re not alone…
A consortium of local governments around
the world committed to climate action at
the local level
A global coalition of mayors and city
officials committing to reduce local
greenhouse gas emissions, enhance
resilience to climate change and track their
progress publicly.
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ICMA's Center for Sustainable
Communities provides knowledge,
resources, and technical assistance on
leading practices at the intersection of
sustainability and local government
management.
Jessica Johnston
[email protected]