A group of people gathered in discussion around a map

Plan for Climate Resiliency

Across the state, communities—large and small, urban and rural—are on the front lines of climate change. We are already experiencing increased damage to our communities from extreme storms, drought, fire, floods, and sea-level rise. Our communities and the infrastructure they depend on must be made climate-ready. Each long-term decision and investment we make can help us avoid disaster and foster innovation.

Issue Brief

How can cities and counties plan for climate resiliency?
Communities are on the front-lines of climate change. There is already increased damage to Washington’s communities from extreme storms, drought, fire, floods, and sea-level rise. By taking steady steps with policies, governance, and management structures, and partnering with the state and private sector, communities can become climate-ready.
View the brief.

Best Practice Actions

  1. Address climate change by:
  1. Prepare integrated hazard management plans and emergency response plans with neighboring cities, counties, agencies
  1. Maximize opportunities to take actions that have dual-benefits of increasing community resilience and reducing greenhouse gas emissions (e.g. urban forestry)
  2. Enhance integrated regional decision-making
  3. Support economic development to enable all communities to be prepared for climate change impacts
  4. Develop short, mid, and long term action plans to reduce impacts of climate change
  5. Conducting multi-sector vulnerability assessments to understand risks; determining areas of highest risk and directing new growth away from them; and developing community adaptation plans.
  6. Preparing climate change integrated hazard management plans and emergency response plans with neighboring cities, counties, and agencies.

Benefits of Planning for Climate Resilience

  • Limits the damage and reduces the long-term costs of the climate-related impacts that are expected to grow in number and intensity in the decades to come.
  • Protects people and communities most vulnerable to climate impacts by increasing community capacity to monitor, detect, plan and respond to emerging threats and climate-related emergencies.
  • Proactively reduces risks to infrastructure, avoids climate risks when siting new infrastructure and planning for growth, and enhances capacity to prepare for more frequent and severe flooding, rising sea levels, wildfires, and changes in energy supply and demand.
  • Helps communities prepare for rising sea levels and storm surge and protect people and property.
  • Supports efforts to identify existing and new funding mechanisms to support adaptation work at the local level.

Tools & Resources

FHWA
Vulnerability Assessment Tools
Washington State Integrated Climate Change Response Strategy
Increase Climate Resilience
Climate Impacts Group
Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flooding Impacts Viewer
NOAA
Tools for Resilience video
NOAA
Climate Wizard
NOAA
Coastal Resilience
NOAA
Cumulative Impacts Model
NOAA
Georgetown Climate Center
Partnership for Sustainable Communities
HUD/DOT/EPA
Incorporating Greenhouse Gas Emissions Collaborative Decision-Making Process