Rating State Hazard Mitigation Plans The Columbia Center for Climate Change Law released a report (and accompanying Excel database) today surveying and ranking all 50 State Hazard Mitigation Plans. The Survey considers to what extent and in what manner climate change related issues are incorporated into existing plans.
Adaptation & Resilience
Ethan I. Strell, Associate Director & Fellow Columbia Center for Climate Change Law In a subtle but meaningful shift, the environmental impact review process in New York City is beginning to more systematically consider the potential effects of a changing climate on proposed projects, not just the effects that a […]
By Michael B. Gerrard, Director The 44th Pacific Islands Forum has convened in Majuro, Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The theme of the conference is “Marshalling the Pacific Response to the Climate Challenge.” Three of the four island nations most endangered by climate change are represented – RMI, Tuvalu, […]
By Ann Tran, Summer Intern Among the many negative impacts of climate change, rising temperatures are causing more frequent and intense heat waves in numerous regions. As many news outlets recently reported, on the weekend of June 28th, a heat wave struck in the West, breaking various temperature records and […]
by CCCL Intern Congress passed the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act just two months before Sandy scoured the northeast, and “requires rates to rise 25 percent annually on some repeatedly flooded houses, second homes and businesses,” and on properties where the costs imposed by past floods exceed the property’s selling […]
Teresa Parejo Professor of Law Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain) Spain has recently adopted a potentially promising reform to its coastal law to update it in response to climate change threats. However, a close read suggests that the reform contains contradictions that illuminate a less-public minded purpose behind the […]
Five months after Superstorm Sandy, the recovering northeast region continues to debate whether to rebuild in the most vulnerable coastal areas or whether to retreat and leave those lands as protective buffers. A decision to engage in managed retreat would face significant legal, political, and practical challenges, but, according to […]
by Anne Siders WNYC radio announced this morning that Mayor Bloomberg, as part of his post-Sandy recovery effort, is considering purchasing waterfront homes that were damaged by Sandy. The plan would use some portion of the $1.8 billion in Community Development Block Grant funding that has been earmarked for New […]