Kirk D. Fauver

Environmental and Transportation Planning Coordinator

FHWA Texas Division

June 4, 2014

Adaptation: Actions by individuals or systems to avoid, withstand, or take advantage of current and projected climate changes and impacts. Adaptation decreases a system’s vulnerability or increases its resilience to impacts.

Adaptive Capacity: A system’s inherent ability to

adapt to climate change impacts.

Impact: An effect of climate change on the structure or function of a system.

Mitigation: Actions to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Resilience: The ability of a system to withstand negative impacts without losing its basic functions.

System: A population or ecosystem; or a grouping of natural resources, species, infrastructure, or other assets.

Vulnerability: The potential for a system to be harmed by climate change, considering the impacts of climate change on the system as well as its capacity to adapt.

3rd and most comprehensive installment produced by the U.S. Global Climate Change Research Program

Evidence of human-induced climate change is growing stronger as impacts increasingly felt across the country

Climate change is already affecting every region in the country and key sectors of the economy

Among likely impacts are increased heat waves and heavy precipitation events in the Northeast as well as decreased water availability in the Southeast, Southwest, and Great Plains.

Rising temperatures could increase the growing season and crop yields in the Midwest, but this region could experience more droughts, fires, and floods.

One of the most “concerning” climate change-related impacts is sea level rise.

Global sea level rose about 8 inches in the last century and is projected to rise another one foot to four feet in this century.

These projections are especially concerning for low-lying coastal cities such as Miami, New Orleans, and Norfolk.

Coastal leaders are increasingly aware of their high vulnerability, leading to costly mitigation plans.

Cumulative costs to the economy of responding to sea level rise and flooding events alone could be as high as $325 B by Year 2100 for four feet of sea level rise:

$130 B in Florida

$88 B in North Atlantic Region

Cost of inaction is four

times to 10 times greater

than the cost associated with

preventive hazard mitigation.

More than fifty percent of cities are already in the process of doing some adaptation planning now. (See survey at http://usmayors.org/pressreleases/uploads/2014/0422-report-climatesurvey.pdf)

Report notes several examples of voluntary mitigation efforts including the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).

However, even if GHG emissions are curtailed, temperatures are expected to increase between 3-5 degrees F by end of century.

Temperatures could increase by as much as 10 degrees F by end of the century if emissions continue to increase.

Temperatures in the U.S. have already increased between 1.3 – 1.9 degrees F since 1895, with most of the increase occurring since 1970.

President Obama’s Climate Plan was unveiled in June 2013. Pledge to cut U.S. GHG emissions 17 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels through actions on power plant emissions, more stringent fuel economy standards, and other regulatory approaches.

Report notes that transportation sector is increasingly vulnerable to climate change impacts, including fixed node infrastructure, fixed route infrastructure, vehicles, and networks.

Impacts from sea level rise and storm surges, extreme weather events, higher temperatures and heat waves, precipitation changes, Arctic warming, and other climatic conditions are affecting the reliability and capacity of the U.S. transportation system.

Key transportation sector impacts also include coastal impacts due to sea level rise, coupled with storm surges, will continue to increases the risk of major coastal impacts on transportation infrastructure, including both temporary and permanent flooding of airports, ports, harbors, roads, rail lines, tunnels, and bridges.

Extreme weather events currently disrupt transportation networks in all areas of the U.S., projections conclude these disruptions will increase.

Climate change adaptation options will increase the total costs to nation’s transportation systems and users; but these impacts can be reduced through rerouting, mode change, and a wide range of adaptive actions.

In 2010, the U.S. transportation sector accounted for 27% of the total GHG emissions, with cars and trucks accounting for 65% of the total. Petroleum still accounts for 93% of the nation’s transportation energy use.

The National Climate Assessment report may be found at: http://nca2014.globalchange.gov/report/sectors/transportation

• Adopted in Berlin, Germany on April 13, 2014 by Working Group III • The IPCC's summary report on

greenhouse gas emissions, released April 13 in Berlin, painted multiple pathways for action on the national and international levels that would help keep the worldwide temperature rise to under 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) this century, compared to pre-industrial levels.

• The full report is available at http://mitigation2014.org/.

GHG emissions accelerate despite reduction efforts. Most emission growth is CO2 from fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes.

By official action (i.e., mayoral pledge or formal city council action), more than half of all cities are now reducing their carbon emissions.

A majority of cities (53%) – 149 of the 282 cities surveyed– have committed to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as the result of a mayoral pledge and/or formal city council action.

While slightly more than one-third of survey respondents have

developed a broad-based energy plan, the share of cities with such plans is expected to more than double in three years.

Today, 36 percent of cities already have “comprehensive” energy plans; this share will change dramatically over the next three years. Nearly four in five cities (79%) are expected to have developed plans by 2016.

Kirk D. Fauver

Environmental and Transportation Planning Coordinator (HPP-TX)

FHWA Texas Division

300 E. 8th Street, Room 826

Austin, TX 78701

E-MAIL: kirk.fauver@dot.gov

PH: (512) 536-5952

Artwork provided by Zaria Foreman, E-mail: zariaz@gmail.com Web site: http://www.zariaforman.com/