Southeast & Caribbean

North Carolina is one of 16 states who have been funded by CDC’s Building Resilience Against Climate Effects grant since 2010. As part of the Building Resilience Against Climate Effects framework, this first Climate and Health Profile Report, builds on the Strategic Plan for Addressing Health Impacts of Climate Change in North Carolina (North Carolina Strategic Plan), describes the leading climate-related risks and their associated public health impacts in the state.

Vulnerability assessments serve as a tool to identify populations and geographic regions that may be at risk so that communities can become more prepared and resilient to hazards, like extreme weather.

The BRACE Program collaborated with the University of South Carolina Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute (HVRI) to produce a vulnerability assessment for seven priority hazards.

This report synthesizes select findings from four separate stakeholder studies aimed at documenting preferences for adapting cultural resources at Cape Lookout National Seashore. The four stakeholder studies included: (1) on-site structured interviews with park visitors, (2) interviews with community members, (3) online survey questionnaires with members of Cape Lookout National Seashore partner organizations, and (4) an online survey with cultural resource management and historic preservation experts.

This report provides an overview of a pilot effort to integrate vulnerability (exposure and sensitivity), significance, and use potential metrics in a decision framework—the Optimal Preservation (OptiPres) Model—to inform climate adaptation planning of a subset of buildings in historic districts (listed on the National Register of Historic Places) at Cape Lookout National Seashore.

The Commonwealth of Virginia Hazard Mitigation Plan provides guidance for hazard mitigation activities within the Commonwealth. Its vision is supported by goals, categories, and actions for Virginia that will reduce or prevent injury from natural hazards to residents, communities, state facilities, and critical facilities. The Commonwealth of Virginia Hazard Mitigation Plan has undergone a full revision for this required 2018 update.

In September 2007, Governor Timothy M. Kaine released the Virginia Energy Plan, an implementation document designed to demonstrate how the General Assembly-enacted state energy policy (SB-262; Code of Virginia § 67-100) could be executed. Included in the Virginia Energy Plan was the recommendation that the Governor create a commission to address climate change and its possible impacts on Virginia.

The North Carolina Enhanced Hazard Mitigation Plan is a federally mandated plan that identifies hazards that could potentially affect North Carolina and identifies actions to reduce the loss of life and property from a disaster across the state. The plan is required to have the following components as mandated in the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000: Planning Process, Risk Assessment, Mitigation Strategies, Coordination of Local Plans; Plan Maintenance; and Plan Adoption and Assurances.

In 2012, the North Carolina Climate and Health Adaptation Plan was developed. Since then, additional climate and health work has led the North Carolina Division of Public Health’s Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch to update the 2012 Adaptation Plan with current priorities. These priorities were developed using vulnerability assessments, disease burden projections, and intervention assessments.

This report contains recommendations from a voluntary stakeholder advisory group on potential measures to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that are worthy of consideration by policy makers in North Carolina. This advisory group represents a broad range of interests in North Carolina. The Climate Action Plan Advisory Group (CAPAG) consists of more than 40 volunteers from business, industry, environmental groups, academia, government and the general public. A consultant, the Center for Climate Strategies (CCS), provided facilitation and technical analysis expertise.