Regionalizing Climate Action Jessica Johnston, Sr. Program Manager

2 Our Changing Climate Adapted from: Anthropogenic and natural warming inferred from changes in Earth’s energy balanceAnthropogenic and natural warming inferred from changes in Earth’s energy balance

3 Our Climate Future

4 What a 2-4˚Increase Could Mean 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 % increases in the area burned by wildfire in parts of the western United States Hotter summers ● Increase in the intensity of precipitation ● Droughts National Academy of Sciences:

5 Local and Global Perspective 11% Global cereal demand expected to rise 1.2% per year

6 What do we do?

7 The Role of Urbanization

8 2025

9 Why Cities Matter Bloomberg found that cities could reduce annual CO2 emissions from five key sources within their control by 8 gigatonnes by That would be equivalent to half the emissions caused by the annual burning of coal today.

10 Climate Impacts are Local National Climate Assessment:

11 What US Local Governments are Saying DO NOT have a sustainability plan Address climate change Adopted a climate adaptation plan Adopted a climate mitigation plan BARRIERS Have no staffing, goals, task forces or committees addressing sustainability Elected Officials 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

12 Preparing and Adapting to Climate Change Thinking of Climate Resiliency as a Shared Service Critical services cross city/county borders Environmental assets rarely follow jurisdictional lines Small/Medium size communities don’t have the funding to tackle challenges on their own Local governments can’t afford to wait for state and federal action Solid Waste Mgt. Public Safety Schools Transport Public Safety Parks & Rec Power Water Public Health

13 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

14 What does regional action look like? Develop annual Legislative Programs and jointly advocate for state and federal policies and funding Dedicate staff time and resources to create a Southeast Florida Regional Climate Action Plan to include mitigation and adaptation strategies Meet annually in Regional Climate Summits to mark progress and identify emerging issues.

15 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

16 4 Counties │ 100+ Cities 3 Working Groups 110 Action Items 5.6 M People in the Region

17 Organizational Structure Summit Planning Team Policy Development, Coordination & Advocacy Team Regional Work Groups Compact Staff Steering Committee Mayors, Managers and/or Commissions

18 Who is taking notice and what’s happening? Durban, South Africa

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20 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

21 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. 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. 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. Western Adaptation Alliance 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.

22 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

23 Local Context: Nebraska’s Climate Future Low emissions scenarios = ˚C rise High emissions scenarios = 4.4-5˚C rise 100 ˚ Days Decrease in Soil Moisture Reduced Rocky Mountain Snow Pack University of Nebraska: Climate Change Implications for Nebraska m_content=&utm_campaign=Climate%20Change%20Implications%20for%20Nebraska Increase drought frequency and severity

24 Where Nebraska Stands 53 Million Metric Tons Equivalent of Morocco 33Million people

26 Nebraska going urban? Nebraska Department of Economic Development

27 Points of entry for Nebraska climate action? Agriculture Fresh water basins Water conservation Conservation Urban Greening Energy usage Flood protection

28 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 Adapted from Alliance for Regional Collaborative for Climate Adaptation

29 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. 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