Governments Need to Prepare for the Effects, Costs of a Changing Climate

Billion-dollar disasters are on the rise. Every state is feeling the effects of a changing climate, whether from more frequent flooding, drought-inducing heat waves, or raging wildfires. Policymakers throughout the country are learning that confronting the significant and growing financial costs and effects on people, businesses, and infrastructure requires proactive measures.

The Pew Charitable Trusts collaborates with communities and federal, state, Tribal, and local governments to identify ways in which they can become more resilient to climate-related risks and disasters such as fires, floods, drought, landslides, and other life-threatening events.

The resources shared here reflect Pew’s work to foster more resilient communities through better planning, development and implementation of proactive policies, and identification of projects for investment—and by facilitating partnerships, such as the State Resilience Planning Group, to share best practices.