Climate Adaptation Resources and Guidance
Many resources are available to help public officials and community members with climate change adaptation planning.
Planning and Preparedness
- EPA's Adaptation Resource Center (ARC-X) is an interactive resource to help local government decision makers create an integrated package of information tailored specifically to their needs and effectively deliver services to their communities even as the climate changes.
- The U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit provides resources and frameworks to understand and address climate issues that affect communities nationwide.
- The U.S. Climate Data Portal provides datasets from federal agencies and other public sector organizations to help inform and prepare America’s communities, businesses, and citizens.
- Local Government Climate Adaptation Training targets local government officials and illustrates how a changing climate may affect environmental and public health services.
- NASA's Global Climate Change provides science agencies, planning organizations, and decision makers with the scientific data needed to understand climate change.
- FEMA's Emergency Management in a Changing Climate provides emergency managers with tools and data to help them manage climate-related risks and advance preparedness efforts.
- The Tribal Environmental General Assistance Program supports planning, developing, and establishing environmental protection programs in Indian country.
- Learn about Resilience and Adaptation in New England (RAINE)
Transportation and Infrastructure
- HUD/DOT/EPA's Partnership for Sustainable Communities helps communities nationwide improve access to sustainable infrastructure to adapt to a changing climate while mitigating future disaster losses.
- DOT’s Transportation and Climate Change Clearinghouse provides approaches for integrating climate change considerations into transportation decision-making.
- DOE's Climate Change supports research and innovation that makes fossil energy technologies cleaner and less harmful to the people and the environment.
- FHWA's Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Case Studies show how communities are integrating climate change adaptation and resilience work in the transportation sector.
Sustainability
- Enhancing Sustainable Communities with Green Infrastructure provides communities with guidance on developing plans to overcome green infrastructure obstacles.
- The Sustainable Communities Indicator Catalog helps communities identify indicators for measuring progress toward sustainability objectives.
- Green Infrastructure Tools help communities better understand and implement green infrastructure approaches.
Water Utilities
- Creating Resilient Water Utilities (CRWU) provides drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater utilities with the practical tools, training, and tecnical assistance needed to increase resilience to extreme weather events. Through a comprehensive planning process, CRWU assists water sector utilities by promoting a clear understanding of potential long-term adaptation options.
- The Climate Change Handbook for Regional Water Planning provides a framework for considering climate change in water management planning.
Stormwater, Runoff, and Flooding
- The Stormwater Calculator with Climate Assessment Tool estimates the annual amount of rainwater and frequency of runoff from U.S. sites, as well as future climate vulnerability scenarios.
- The Storm Water Management Model with Climate Adjustment Tool is a comprehensive computer model for analyzing quantity and quality problems associated with urban runoff.
- The Water Erosion Prediction Project Climate Assessment Tool (WEPPCAT) is an online tool to assess and manage the potential impacts of climate change on sediment loading to streams.
- EPA's Flood Resilience Checklist (PDF)(6 pp, 380 K, About PDF) helps communities assess their readiness for a possible flood.
Coasts and Estuaries
- The Climate Ready Estuaries program assesses climate change vulnerabilities, develops and implements adaptation strategies, and engages and educates stakeholders.
- The Sea Level Rise Viewer simulates various sea level rise scenarios and the corresponding areas that would be impacted by flooding.
- The Storm Surge Inundation and Hurricane Strike Frequency Map illustrates current worst-case coastal storm surge or inundation scenarios and hurricane strike frequency derived from NOAA’s Sea, Lake, and Overland Surge from Hurricanes (SLOSH) models.
- The Reef Manager's Guide to Coral Bleaching provides coral reef managers with new management strategies for responding to the threat of bleaching as water temperatures rise.
Land Use
- USGS's Climate and Land Use Change conducts research and collects data on the processes and impacts of climate change on land use.
Public Health
- EPA's Climate Change and Extreme Heat: What You Can Do to Prepare guidebook explains the connection between climate change and extreme heat events, and outlines actions citizens can take to protect their health before and during extreme heat.
- CDC's Climate and Health helps state and city health departments prepare for the health impacts of climate change.