Climate Adaptation
EPA Tackles Climate Adaptation
For the first time, EPA has addressed the issue of climate change adaptation in a letter from Administrator Lisa Jackson. The contents of the letter are not startling: mostly instructions to carry out existing policies or government recommendations on climate change. Two points are worth noting, however. First, the Administrator directs the agency to produce …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Adaptation Across the Pond
In the U.K., climate adaptation is mandated by statute, with primary responsibility in a single government agency and specific implementation requirements for local authorities. In the U.S., we can only envy the extent to which even the current Conservative government is taking the issue of climate change seriously. A 2005 Climate Change Programme report helpfully …
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CONTINUE READINGPutting the English on Climate Adaptation
As part of a research project on climate adaptation, I had occasion to look at what the British are doing. The Adaptation Subcommittee of the Climate Change Committee has done some excellent work to address adaptation issues. Besides planning, the Subcommittee has begun to assess progress to date, finding some improvements in capacity building but …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Feds Take On Climate Adaptation
On October 14, the White House’s Climate Change Adaptation Task Force released its recommendations to President Obama for how agencies can better prepare the United States to respond to the impacts of climate change. Once again we are reminded of how important it is to have an Administration that takes climate science seriously. According to …
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CONTINUE READINGHot Off the Presses
So to speak. Our friend and colleague Matt Kahn’s new book, Climatolopolis: How Our Cities Will Thrive in the Hotter Future, has just been published. Matt is a real rarity among economists in two ways: 1) He writes in English; and 2) He does not think that economics can explain everything and anything, and has …
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CONTINUE READINGGleick’s New Water Blog
Readers with an interest in water issues should take a look at Peter Gleick‘s new blog with the SF Chronicle. Gleick is the head of the Pacific Institute — and, I’m happy to say, an ERG graduate.
CONTINUE READINGNew GAO Report on Adaptation
GAO has released an important report on adaptation. This is a subject that is just beginning to get the attention it deserves. Key findings: The challenges faced by federal, state, and local officials in their efforts to adapt fell into three categories, based on GAO’s analysis of questionnaire results, site visits, and available studies. First, …
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CONTINUE READINGNew Report on Infrastructure at Risk
Resources for the Future, one of the least partisan of Washington think tanks, has issued a new report entitled Adapting to Climate Change: The Public Policy Response – Public Infrastructure by James E. Neumann and Jason C. Price. The report makes three major recommendations for how to improve infrastructure planning in light of climate change: …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Mitigation and U.S. Self-Interest
Jody Freeman and my colleague Andrew Guzman have posted an important paper, “Sea Walls are Not Enough.” The paper is particularly significant because Jody is now a senior White House advisor on climate policy. The gist of the paper is this: We demonstrate that even if one accepts that the premises of the climate change …
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