Objectives of the National Climate Resilience Framework

In September the Biden administration released the National Climate Resilience Framework, a guiding document for helping federal agencies and state, local, tribal, and territorial governments make decisions about where and how to invest in climate resiliency projects. Resilience in this case is defined as “the ability to prepare for threats and hazards, adapt to changing conditions, and withstand and recover rapidly from adverse conditions and disruptions.”

The framework is build around 6 core objectives.

Objective 1: Embed climate resilience into planning and management

Planning for the future often starts by studying the past. In the case of climate resilience this is a false premise, since climate change implies that future conditions may differ in very important ways from past ones. Effective planning requires that efforts “[incorporate] information on current and future climate conditions into design guidelines, standards, policies, and practices [that] would reduce climate risks and impacts”.

“A community, business, agency, or institution can begin to embed climate considerations in its decision making by conducting a climate risk assessment to understand its particular vulnerabilities to climate change, and developing a climate action and adaptation plan that lays out an appropriate response.”

Objective 2: Increase resilience of the built environment to both acute climate shocks and chronic stressors

As the framework says, “investments in the built environment are also investments in community well-being.” As part of this effort the Biden administration is planning to update building codes to better consider the impacts of climate-related weather events.

“A resilient built environment — one that is constructed to the latest building codes, renovated to high-performance resilience standards, and located away from hazard zones where possible, while ensuring there is an adequate and affordable housing supply — protects people from climate impacts, supports quicker recovery from disruptions, and helps communities thrive.”

Objective 3: Mobilize capital, investment, and innovation to advance climate resilience at scale

“Resilience projects are underinvested in due to numerous factors like payback periods that can be long and/or uncertain, benefits may go to a community rather than solely to investors, and traditional accounting mechanisms tend to focus on direct financial benefits (e.g., losses avoided), while limiting consideration of many indirect benefits (e.g., water quality improvement or cultural preservation).”

Objective 4: Equip communities with information and resources needed to assess their climate risks and develop the climate resilience solutions most appropriate for them

This objective is about “providing communities with evidence-based and easy-to-use information, tools, and services”, and this is achieved through tools such as Climate Mapping for Resilience and Adaptation, the Sea Level Rise Viewer, and the National Climate Resilience Toolkit.

“The availability of information resources is often not sufficient to support communities. Communities must be able to identify, access, navigate, and use relevant resources to design and adopt appropriate solutions to the specific climate risks they face.”

Objective 5: Protect and sustainably manage lands and waters to enhance resilience while providing numerous other benefits

“Investments in nature through conservation and restoration are critical for managing these impacts and are equally integral as solutions to the climate crisis.”

Objective 6: Help communities become not only more resilient, but also more safe, healthy, equitable, and economically strong

“A community’s climate resilience is closely linked to its economic, social, and physical wellbeing. Communities with diverse economies, strong civic engagement, food and water security, and access to essential services like equitable transportation, affordable housing and health care will be more resilient to climate threats.”

All of these objectives contain more detailed actions and resources that I have not listed out completely here. The document is a rich source of material for those interested in doing more to enable their community to prepare for the effects of climate change.