Fact Sheet: Biden-Harris Administration Launches New Climate Portal to Help Communities Explore Climate Change Impacts

Interactive mapping features provide the community with location-based information about extreme heat, drought, wildfires and other climate impacts.

Today, the Biden-Harris administration is launching a website that offers a live dashboard to help communities see the risks they face from climate change and other threats, and is also offering a map of how each community could be affected. in the future. The new one Portal climate map for recovery and adaptation It helps state, local, tribal and regional governments and leaders better monitor real-time impacts and access federal resources for long-term planning.

Americans are facing a worsening climate crisis – from extreme heat across the country, including a dangerous “heat dome” in California this week. record-breaking floods across the South and Midwest; Drought in the West is disrupting water supplies that millions depend on. And more wildfires are threatening communities. Last year’s 20 largest climate-related disasters alone claimed hundreds of lives, caused untold hardship, and more. 150 billion dollars in damages.

In addition to providing more detailed, location-specific information on climate risk, the new portal also brings together a number of federal data sources and funding opportunities to help communities better prepare and respond to climate impacts – including historic resiliency from the president’s bipartisan Infrastructure Act. For regions and communities around the country. Along with the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden-Harris administration is providing historic support to expand resilience programs, protect America’s communities, economies and infrastructure from the worst impacts of climate change, and improve the nation’s climate mapping and data capabilities.

Learn more about ten key ways the Biden-Harris administration will make America more resilient to climate change

Helping communities better understand and plan for climate disaster

The Climate Map Resilience and Adaptation Portal is a first-of-its-kind hub to help communities, federal agencies and other levels of government better understand their vulnerability to current climate disasters to strengthen their resilience plans. The portal continues to evolve to meet the needs of the community and includes:

• Real-time monitoring dashboard: A new dashboard brings together current extreme heat warnings, drought conditions and inland and coastal flood warnings, as well as maps showing wildfire locations, to help keep track of climate-related disasters affecting communities every day. They produce poor air quality.
• Environmental Climate Vulnerability Assessments; In addition to real-time information about extreme weather events, the portal helps communities understand their historical and future vulnerability to various climate impacts. Portal Evaluation tool It provides up-to-the-count hazard reporting on heat, drought, and flooding, including projections of future impacts under both low- and high-emission scenarios based on climate models used in the United States National Climate Assessment. This makes the application interactive Helping environmental resilience planners and other users Understand how future temperature, precipitation and flood patterns will affect their communities in the near future and in the mid- to late-century.
• Funding Opportunities and Other Federal Resources: The portal provides access to federal information, programs and funding opportunities, including resilience efforts. Resources For extreme heat, drought, wildfires, flooding and coastal inundation and sea level rise. CMRA’s assessment tool helps state, local, tribal, and territorial governments prepare data-driven proposals for federal funding.

Building on climate information efforts in the administration

The new web portal is part of the National Climate Task Force’s initiative to provide more accessible climate information and decision-making tools in line with President Biden’s directive to address the climate crisis at home and abroad. As part of this initiative, last year the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) launched a redesign. Climate.gov And this year, the National Integrated Thermal Health Information System has launched a new one heat.gov-Using data sources now included in the CMRA portal.

The assessment tool also integrates information from federal initiatives:

• Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool: As part of the Justice 40 initiative of the Biden-Harris administration, this Filter tool It identifies disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved and overburdened by pollution. The assessment tool also identifies these census tracts, helping planners at all levels of government prioritize equity when designing and implementing resilience projects.
• Building Code Adoption Tracking Portal: As part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s National Initiative on Building Codes, FMA continues to update its Building Code Adoption Tracking Portal on the status of state, local, tribal, and territorial building codes and the resilience of these codes to hazards such as flooding. , hurricanes and storms. Information on whether the area is covered by a hazard-resistant building code is displayed in the assessment tool.
• Updated sea level rise data: At the beginning of this year, the administration issued 2022 Sea Level Rise Technical ReportProjections of sea level rise to 2150 for all US states and territories. This information will be included in the portal’s resources on coastal flooding.

Under President Biden’s leadership, the administration has secured historic new investments to further improve our nation’s climate mapping and data capabilities. NOAA is using resources. From the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law To improve a variety of climate data and services, including flood forecasting, soil moisture monitoring and wildfire prediction and detection. In addition, the Inflation Reduction Act provides NOAA with resources to improve computing capacity, forecasting, and weather and climate impacts, as well as funding for the Council on Environmental Quality to improve disproportionate environmental damage and climate impacts.

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