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County N​ews

Climate Change Action Plan 2020 Update

The updated Climate Change Action Plan has been approved by the Board of County Commissioners and is available here​. Implementing these actions will be the focus for the next four years, until the document is updated again in 2025.  

Regional Standards for Seawalls & Flood Barriers 

Adopted by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners into the Land Use Plan on January 7th and into Broward County Code of Ordinances on March 31st, 2020. Download the “Build it High, Keep it Dry" brochure, and learn more about the new regional standards and the USACE Flood Risk Study here. 

2020 Broward Leaders Resilience Roundtable

On October 2, 2020 Broward County Commissioners Nan H. Rich and Beam Furr hosted the 2020 Broward Leaders Resilience Roundtable virtually. One hundred eleven people participated, including leadership representing 23 cities, the business community, and the Seminole Tribe, along with Broward Mayor Dale Holness and County Commissioners Lamar Fisher and Dr. Barbara Sharief.  https://www.broward.org/Climate/Pages/ResilientBroward.aspx

Solar Project Installation

Broward County has made great strides towards leading a clean energy future with more than 6 megawatts in solar energy project commitments across 15 sites, including 9 sites either under construction or already completed by the end of 2021.

​County Fleet Electrification and Charging Infrastructure Planning

In the effort to meet targets established in the Under2 Coalition's Zero Emissions Vehicle Challenge by 2030, Broward County has prioritized electric vehicles for new single passenger vehicle purchases including 28 electric vehicles while also installing 7 Level-2 fleet electric vehicle chargers at various County parking facilities.  Agencies collaborated to finalize a report analyzing labor and costs of outfitting four of the County's largest fleet parking facilities with a maximum amount of electric vehicle chargers.  The results serve as the basis for near-term and 5-year capital planning to meet the County' clean fleet goal.  EPCRD/EPGMD is also working with the Purchasing Division to create a “library" of suitable EV chargers with data-sharing capabilities and open-software functionality to allow the easy purchase of a variety of systems, allowing different charger types and technologies to be deployed and evaluated by the County. County agencies are meeting quarterly to maintain coordination of electric vehicle initiatives.

​Urban Heat Vulnerability Mapping

Through continued technical assistance provided by Earth Economics and the Urban Green Infrastructure Lab, preliminary urban heat mapping and a high-level analysis of vulnerabilities was completed for Broward County. The public health burden of urban heat islands was confirmed to be disproportionately levied on the lowest income households.  Approximately 90,000 residents with income significantly below the poverty level live in neighborhoods where temperatures are higher than the rest of the county. One third of this population are at higher risk to heat health impacts due to their age. The model estimated that 13 to 44 lives are lost in the county annually due to urban heat island effects. The number of days above 88°F has increased 36% since 2000, to 90 days per year. By 2050, the number of hot days is projected to increase to 144 days. This information has been summarized in a brochure for distribution and served as the basis for grant applications to support development of heat mitigation strategies inclusive of green infrastructure.​

​​Business Case for Resilience Project

During 2019-2020, Broward County EPCRD managed a contract with the Urban Land Institute for research and development of the Business Case for Resilience in Southeast Florida study, jointly funded by the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact and business leadership and a grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The report analyzed the costs and benefits of both community-wide resilient infrastructure investments (generally public-sector) and building-level investments (generally private-sector) and revealed a benefit-cost ratio of 2:1 for community-wide improvements, and 4:1 for building-level adaptation with investments serving to preserve and generate jobs, economic activity, and real estate value. Recommendations focus on raising climate risk awareness, public-private coordination to bolster occupational training, engagement with small businesses, and key economic clusters. We look forward to working with the private sector, institutional partners, and community organizations to gain additional state and federal support for resilience investments and to advance shared recommendations. https://seflorida.uli.org/business-case-for-resilience-southeast-florida/

Read the latest Climate, Energy & Sustainability eNews May 2020 Edition

National and International Headlines

• 25 Years of Global Sea Level Data, and Counting - August 10, 2017, marks the 25th anniversary of the first highly accurate, global measurements of sea level rise.  

• Planet has just 5% chance of reaching Paris climate goal - Global trends in the economy, emissions and population growth make it extremely unlikely that the planet will remain below the 2°C threshold, according to new research that paints a sobering picture of the international effort to stem dangerous climate change. 

• The Uninhabitable Earth, Annotated Edition - Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreak — sooner than you think. 

• The best way to reduce your personal carbon emissions: don't be rich - Discussing the role of individual choices in climate change without discussing income inequality smears the responsibility evenly over everyone, when the responsibility ought to be concentrated where the emissions are concentrated: among the wealthy.

• Best ways to cut climate change are overlooked - Governments and schools are not communicating the most effective ways for individuals to reduce their carbon footprints, according to new research.
  

• Dirty lie’ of cheap fossil fuels must end - “It is a dirty lie that CO2 emissions from fossil fuels have so far come with no cost – they cost us human health, damage to our climate, and billions of dollars in subsidies worldwide," says renowned German economist, Ottmar Edenhofer.

• Scientists warn US coral reefs are on course to disappear within decades - “The idea we will sustain reefs in the US 100 years from now is pure imagination, at the current rate it will be just 20 or 30 years, it’s just a question of time.”

• Food industry is cooking the planet - One of the biggest contributors to climate change is the agricultural food industry, but the political will to tackle the issue is lacking. 

• Inspiring action on climate change is more complex than you might think - Individuals play a critical role in inspiring collective actions within various spheres of influence, which is the kind of behavior needed to change the enormous systems - food, transportation, retail, etc. - disproportionately impacting the planet.

• Bigger isn’t better for energy savings - Advances made in the energy efficiency of heating and transport are lost because of people’s desire to have bigger houses and cars.

• Unless we share them, self-driving vehicles will just make traffic worse - There can be an 80% cut in urban transportation CO2 emissions by 2050, if cities embrace 3 revolutions (3R) in vehicle technology: automation, electrification, and most importantly, ride sharing.

• The great climate silence: we are on the edge of the abyss but we ignore it - Our best scientists tell us insistently that a calamity is unfolding, that the life-support systems of the Earth are being damaged in ways that threaten our survival. Yet in the face of these facts we carry on as usual. The greatest tragedy is the absence of a sense of the tragedy.

• Ocean acidification is global warming’s forgotten crisis - We possess many of the tools we need to take care of our fish, coral reefs, and coastal habitats. But, as with climate change, we lack the political motivation to deploy the solutions as fast and broadly as required. 

• Yes, I am a climate alarmist. Global warming is a crime against humanity - There can be no greater crime against humanity than the foreseeable and methodical destruction of conditions that make human life possible.

• World’s vanishing glaciers put millions at risk - From the Himalayas to Switzerland, the world’s glaciers are melting, threatening vital water supplies and increasing the risk of sea level rise.

• Climate Change As Genocide: Inaction Equals Annihilation - Failing to halt the advance of climate change means complicity with mass human annihilation. Only dramatic and concerted action on multiple fronts can prevent the human disasters now unfolding in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen from becoming the global norm.

• Climate Change's Mental Health Impacts Need Care Too - Often overlooked, the mental part of dealing with extreme weather and other climate impacts is crucial, says a new report by the American Psychological Association, Climate for Health, and ecoAmerica.

• Just four years left of the 1.5°C global carbon budget - Four years of current emissions would likely be enough to blow what’s left of the global carbon budget to keep temperature rise under 1.5°C.  ​

Scientific Papers and Reports

• McAlpine, S., and Porter, J. 2018. Estimating Recent Local Imapcts of Sea-Level Rise on Current Real-Estate Losses: A Housing Market Case Study in Miami-Dade, Florida. Population Research and Policy Review. Article (PDF)
• Wynes, S. and Nicholas, K. A. 2017. The climate mitigation gap: education and government recommendations miss the most effective individual actions. Environmental Research Letters, Volume 12, Number 7.  Article
• Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition. 2017. Report of the High-Level Commission on Carbon Prices.  Report (PDF)
• Fulton, L., et al. 2017. Three Revolutions in Urban Transportation. ITDP and UC Davis.  Summary  
• United Nations Secretary-General. 2017. Oceans and the law of the sea: The effects of climate change on oceans. Report A/72/70. Report (PDF)
• Moomaw, B. and Smith, D. 2017. The Great American Stand: U.S. Forests and ​ the Climate Emergency. Asheville, NC: Dogwood Alliance. Report (PDF)
• Clayton, S., Manning, C. M., Krygsman, K., Speiser, M. 2017. Mental Health and Our Changing Climate: Impacts, Implications, and Guidance. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, and ecoAmerica. Report (PDF)
• World Meteorological Organization. 2017. WMO Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2016. Geneva, Switzerland. Press Release   
• Sarfaty, M., et al. 2017. Medical Alert! Climate Change is Harming Our Health. Fairfax, VA: Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health. 
  
• C40 Cities and Arup. 2016. Deadline 2020: How cities will get the job done. London, United Kingdom. 
  
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2016. Climate Change Indicators in the United States, 2016. Fourth edition. EPA 430-R-16-004. www.epa.gov/climate-indicators

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