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The District’s Plans for Climate Resilience

Climate change has brought big changes to the weather in the District and these changes are projected to get worse. With hotter summers, increased flooding and more severe storms from climate change District communities will need to be able to “weather” these disruptions. The project of helping communities survive and thrive weather changes is called climate resilience, or climate change adaptation. The District has a series of plans that describe what the District intends to do to become climate resilient: Climate Ready DC (2016) - The District’s first climate resilience plan, Climate Ready DC, was issued in 2016. To develop the plan the District government convened a team of technical experts to assess the likely impacts of climate change on District businesses and residents. The plan proposed 77 actions for the District to become climate ready. Resilient DC (2019)Resilient DC expanded the focus of resiliency projects. This plan defines “urban resilience” as “the capacity of individuals, communities, institutions, businesses, and systems within a city to survive, adapt, and thrive no matter what kinds of chronic stresses and acute shocks they experience.” The plan presents a broad strategy for developing greater resilience in the District. Strategic Roadmap for Climate Ready DC (2020) – Given the ever-increasing urgency of climate change, the 2020 Strategic Roadmap for Climate Ready DC went through a community-informed prioritization exercise to hone in on the 35 most high priority actions from the 2016 Climate Ready DC. The Plan gives update on actions, next steps, and implementation strategies for those high-priority actions. OPC, as the advocate for gas, electric, and water consumers, is helping to educate District residents about available home or community-based resilience programs. When these programs are funded by ratepayers OPC is advocating for the programs to be cost-effective, just, affordable, and equitable.