United States

Between 1980-2019, the U.S. endured 250 climate and weather disasters that each cost more than $1 billion, resulting in a total cost exceeding $1.7 trillion. Climate change contributes to a variety of hazards including extreme precipitation, drought, sea level rise, storm surge, heat waves, and flooding, and this effect will worsen over time. While the onset of natural disasters may be unavoidable, forgoing the opportunity to plan for changing conditions and increasing risks puts citizens in the path of preventable danger.

DOD’s global property holdings are worth nearly $1.2 trillion. Since 2010, DOD has identified climate change as a threat to its operations and installations.

The GAO found that DOD's preliminary assessment of extreme weather and climate change effects at installations relied on past experience rather than an analysis of future vulnerabilities based on climate projections. Also, DOD’s designs for new construction at facilities generally did not consider climate projections, because DOD lacks guidance on how to do so.

As part of the Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency project, an integrated coastal protection initiative, this study was funded by both the City and the State through federal postSandy disaster appropriations. After Sandy, climate resilience initiatives and the investment of community stakeholders led New York City to successfully receive funds to mitigate coastal storm surge flood risks in Two Bridges through the federal National Disaster Resilience Competition.

Rising seas, more frequent storms and other climate-driven coastal hazardsnecessitate adaptation planning measures to protect people and property.

Scorched: Extreme Heat and Real Estate outlines how extreme heat will affect the real estate and land use sectors and highlights the leadership and the potential positive impact of the real estate sector in implementing “heat-resilient” building designs and land uses. The report provides an overview of extreme heat’s connections to the built environment and an in-depth discussion of heat mitigation and adaptation strategies related to building design, building materials, green infrastructure and public space design.

The decade from 2000 to 2009 was the warmest ever recorded. Over the last three decades, each has been warmer than the one before and science is telling us that this trend will continue. In addition, the inexpensive fossil fuels that our community and country depend on for transportation, food production, and industry are projected to become increasingly expensive. Eugene is joining a growing list of cities around the world that are addressing these climate change and energy concerns with a plan to meet the challenges with vision and creativity.