Earlier this month, on June 2, 2025, Atlanta’s City Council unanimously passed a state-of-the-art ordinance to require cool roofs throughout the whole city, immediately propelling Atlanta to the forefront of local climate adaptation measures. The new requirements will help make Atlanta cooler, improve its air quality, and lower residents’ energy […]
Adaptation & Resilience
90 posts
On his first day in office President Trump axed the Biden-era federal Buy Clean program. Buy Clean was designed to leverage the federal government’s buying power to help grow the low carbon building materials industry. Killing it will have consequences—buildings are responsible for a major share of global carbon dioxide […]
This post was co-authored by the Sabin Center’s Romany Webb and Noha Haggag and Michael Panfil of Environmental Defense Fund. Columbia Law School’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), and the Initiative on Climate Risk and Resilience Law today released an Electric Resilience Toolkit to support […]
This publication is based on a piece drafted for Perry World House and made possible in part by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The views expressed are solely the author’s. Amidst the federal government’s struggle to contain a public health crisis as the U.S. presidential election […]
By Michael B. Gerrard This blog is based on a talk given to the Climate Change: Response and Resilience Leadership Forum at Columbia University on November 20, 2019, sponsored by RenaissanceRe. We know that, mostly as a result of climate change, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and severe. […]
Governmental officials, concerned citizens, and experts will gather this week to mobilize climate action during the United Nation’s Secretary General’s Climate Action Summit and Climate Week NYC. Millions around the world are expected to demand urgent action ahead of these events in climate strikes inspired by Swedish teenage activist Greta […]
As the frequency and intensity of natural disasters continue to increase, it is more important than ever for all levels of government to prepare for these disasters and, when they happen, to know how to recover. Holly Leicht, former Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Region 2 Administrator, has […]
By Dena Adler A newly released Sabin Center White Paper, “State Hazard Mitigation Plans & Climate Change: Rating the States 2019 Update,” reviews how well the states have integrated climate change into their State Hazard Mitigation Plans (SHMPs). SHMPs serve as “blueprints” for state efforts to prepare for natural and […]