Road from Paris: Global climate deal expected to take effect soon
Dry spell: Covering worsening droughts
Climate Knowledge Center
Overview: The Association of Climate Change Officers is a U.S. coalition of private and public sector community leaders that promotes sustainable building and adaptive policies on the municipal level.
How to Use This Resource: This nonprofit publishes extensive research on adaptation initiatives on the local level, which can be found on its Knowledge Center page. This is an excellent resource for journalists researching climate adaption in U.S. corporations.
Virtual Classroom – Marine and Environmental Reporting
Overview: The Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting is an organization within the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography that provides science training to journalists.
How to Use This Resource: In the Climate Science section, journalists will find ample research on how climate change is affecting oceans and how those oceanic changes in turn affect coastal communities and the global climate.
Sea Level Rise Planning
Overview: The National Wildlife Refuge System, part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, is dedicated to protecting 150 million acres of land and water from the Caribbean to the Pacific, plus more than 418 million acres of national marine monuments.
How to Use This Resource: This site explains the Sea Level Affecting Marshes Model, which is the foundation of sea-level rise planning for the refuge system on the national level. The model provides maps and tables projecting sea-level rise scenarios between 2025 and 2100.
Climate Change Global Food Security and the U.S. Food System
Overview: The United States Global Change Research Program is a coalition of 13 federal departments and agencies research the human-induced and natural processes of climate change.
How to Use This Resource: This 157-page report, part of a peer-reviewed scientific assessment incorporated into the U.S. National Climate Assessment, analyzes how climate change is impacting global food security across multiple sectors. The web site includes a six-minute explanatory video.
The Business Case for Responsible Corporate Adaptation
Overview: Caring for Climate is a joint initiative of the United Nations Global Compact, the United Nations Environmental Programme and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, working to mobilize business leaders to implement climate change adaptation policies.
How to Use This Resource: This report provides recommendations on climate adaptation from the United Nations to businesses with the aim of fighting poverty and environmental degradation worldwide. It includes chapters on the business benefits of adapting responsibly and on overcoming barriers to corporate adaptation, as well as 17 case studies of business adaptation around the world.
National Adaptation Plans
Overview: A national adaptation plan process, part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, enables parties to formulate and implement the plans as a way to identify adaptation needs, and to develop and implement strategies and program to address them.
How to Use This Resource: Journalists will find a complete database of UNFCCC plans to adapt Least Developed Countries to a changing climate. This resource page also includes links to technical guidelines and publications.
The Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage
Overview: The Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage, part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, is a protocol to address loss and damage associated with climate change impacts in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.
How to Use This Resource: This page leads to various resources related to loss and damage, including an overview of milestones, various decision documents and meeting schedules, as well as access to a database of examples of existing loss and damage measures.
U.N. Climate Change Newsroom
Overview: The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is the parent treaty of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, and has near universal membership. The ultimate objective of both treaties is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.
How to Use This Resource: At the Paris 2015 Climate Change Conference, convention members are attempting to reach a global agreement on climate action. This website posted regular updates from the Paris conference, including the latest information on negotiations, documents, and live feeds, as well as resources for those journalists covering the conference. You can also find a list of on-demand webcasts and a hashtag tracker.
Flood Insurance
Overview: The Center for NYC Neighborhoods is a nonprofit dedicated to preventing foreclosure, rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy, and promoting affordable homeownership.
How to Use This Resource: This toolkit for New York City residents provides up-to-date information on flood insurance and risk assessment in the five boroughs. It includes an interactive map and a full report on flood insurance.
New York State Hurricane Sandy Response Programs
Overview: The Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery was formed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to centralize recovery and rebuilding efforts in areas impacted by Hurricane Sandy.
How to Use This Resource: This site details the New York State programs dedicated to housing recovery, small business, and community reconstruction.
Bloomberg’s Hidden Legacy: Climate Change and the Future of New York City
Overview: Inside Climate News is a Pulitzer prize-winning, nonprofit news organization that covers clean energy, carbon energy, nuclear energy and environmental science.
How to Use This Resource: Mayor Bloomberg’s initiatives to fortify New York City after Hurricane Sandy have since become a model for urban adaptation across the globe. This book details those initiatives.
Building Resilience for Adaptation to Climate Change in the Agriculture Sector
Overview: The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development are intergovernmental agencies focused on sustainable agricultural development worldwide.
How to Use This Resource: This report includes more than two dozen research papers on climate resilience and adaptation in agriculture sectors worldwide.
Superstorm Sandy News, Articles, and Research
Overview: City Limits is a nonprofit news source for investigative journalism on the inner workings of New York City.
How to Use This Resource: Hurricane Sandy plays a key role in the continuing conversation on climate adaptation. This archive of the storm’s news coverage is a valuable resource for journalists to track its impact on the local level in New York City.
Fostering Community Disaster Resilience: A Fact Sheet for Journalists and News Organizations
Overview: The Disaster and Community Crisis Center at the University of Missouri focuses on enhancing mental and behavioral health preparedness, recovery, and resilience in children, families, and communities affected by disaster.
How to Use This Resource: Journalists will find a comprehensive guid on the best practices for reporting in a disaster; how to prepare, report, and do no harm.
Recent OECD work on Adaptation to Climate Change
Overview: The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is a consortium of 34 nations in Europe, North America, Asia, the Middle East and Asia that promote international economic development.
How to Use This Resource: This report details what actions the OECD has taken to assist developing countries prepare for climate change, how best to invest in future adaptation, and where funds are needed most.
Green Infrastructure Toolkit
Overview: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is a federal agency within the United States Department of Commerce dedicated to the preservation of oceans and the atmosphere.
How to Use This Resource: This toolkit provides local-level data about the coastal risks of climate change and provide an extensive menu of techniques to mitigate those risks.
Assessing Health Vulnerability to Climate Change: A Guide for Health Departments
Overview: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services. It uses its prevention expertise to advise cities and states on investigating, preparing for, and responding to the health ramifications of climate change.
How to Use This Resource: This report outlines how the nation’s health services are assessing risk and preparing to adapt to climate change.
National Disaster Resilience Competition
Overview: The Department of Housing and Urban Development is the cabinet-level agency responsible for the development of quality and affordable housing in the United States.
How to Use This Resource: Forty states and communities are competing in the final phase of the challenge to develop disaster resilience strategies and projects. This site provides a comprehensive guide to what action those governments are taking.
Mitigation and Adaptation Policies
Overview: The Global Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet is a NASA-sponsored project that archives timely news and data on Earth’s changing climate.
How to Use This Resource: This database makes NASA-sponsered data available to the general public with a special focus on adaption and mitigation.
Health and Human Services Climate Adaptation Plan
Overview: The United States Department of Health and Human Services is a cabinet-level agency responsible for protecting human health.
How to Use This Resource: This report assesses the full impact that climate change will have on American health. It outlines plans to update its facilities and practices to better serve vulnerable communities within the United States.
Impacts and Adaptations Research Hub
Overview: Climate Access is a network for those engaging the public in the transformation to low-carbon, resilient communities.
How To Use This Research: This archive holds extensive reports on adaptation efforts across the globe and is searchable by region and by climate change impacts.
North Atlantic Coast Comprehensive Study Report
Overview: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers investigates, develops and maintains the nation environmental resources.
How to Use This Resource: This report and interactive map details the results of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study of coastal storm and flood risk to vulnerable populations, property, ecosystems, and infrastructure affected by Hurricane Sandy in the North Atlantic region.
Connecting People to Build Inclusive Urban Climate Change Resilience
Overview: The Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network works to contribute knowledge, create resources, and promote agendas to build inclusive urban climate change resilience.
How to Use This Resource: Journalists will find an archive of reports, research and data on the progress of climate change adaptation in developing Asian nations.
Building a Stronger Coast
Overview: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services is the agency dedicated to protecting oceanic ecosystems.
How to Use This Resource: This website features state fact sheets, an infographic on coastal resilience, restoration and repair videos, and an interactive story map of Hurricane Sandy recovery projects, with detailed profiles of each and a database of media resources that is searchable by state.
The Big One: The East Coast’s USD 100 Billion Hurricane Event 
Overview: Swiss Reinsurance Company is a reinsurance company based in Zurich.
How to Use This Resource: In 1821, a powerful hurricane decimated the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast United States. If it were to strike today, it would potentially cost more than $100 billion in property losses. This report examines what data exists from that storm to predict the impact of future mega-storms.
Introduction to Storm Surge
Overview: The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is a federal agency dedicated to the preservation of oceans and the atmosphere.
How to Use This Resource: Storm surge is an abnormal rise of water generated by a storm. And as climate change intensifies the power of tropical storms, storm surge will become one of the greatest challenges facing coastal cities. This fact sheet explains the science behind the surge.
Yale Climate Connections
Overview: The Yale Project on Climate Change Communication conducts research on public climate knowledge and provides communicators with tools to engage their audiences.
How to Use This Resource: Yale Climate Connections is a multimedia service that broadcasts daily radio and print stories about climate change.
Climate Change and Transportation Research and Activities
Overview: The Transportation Research Board is run through the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. It conducts research at the nexus of climate change and transportation.
How to Use This Resource: This website serves as a gateway to Transportation Research Board activites and products that address transportation infrastructure and the effort to reduce transportation-related emissions of carbon dioxide.
Climate Change and Sea-Level Rise in Florida
Overview: The Florida Oceans and Coastal Council is a research organization sponsored by the federal government to develop priorities for ocean and coastal research statewide.
How to Use This Resource: This report on the effects of climate change on Florida’s ocean and coastal resources found the state extremely unprepared, because none of its infrastructure was built to accommodate sea level rise. The Florida Oceans and Coastal Council calls for immediate action in this comprehensive guide.
Paris Climate Change Conference Information Hub
Overview: The Paris 2015 Climate Change Conference was the 21st meeting of parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, whose aim is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.
How to Use This Resource: The extensive conference information hub is a go-to site for reporters covering the Nov. 30-Dec. 11, 2015 summit, providing agendas, reports, schedules, research pertaining, and more. There’s also a web site on Understanding the UNFCC that includes a detailed discussion of adaptation initiatives.
Hurricane Sandy Rebuild By Design Competition
Overview: In response to Hurricane Sandy, U.S. HUD Secretary Donovan launched Rebuild by Design, a design competition model to develop innovative, actionable solutions for a more resilient region in the Northeast.
How to Use This Resource: Each of the projects profiled here found new ways to use design as a means to rebuild after Hurricane Sandy. This work is at the vanguard of urban resiliency action.
Seizing the Global Opportunity
Overview: The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate is an independent think tank, commissioned by Colombia, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Norway, South Korea, Sweden and the United Kingdom, to address the financial concerns caused by climate change.
How to Use This Resource: This report explores initiatives that would result in both stronger economic growth and a better climates in developing countries.
United States Federal Adaptation Resources
Overview: The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions is an independent nonprofit advocating for policy action to address climate change. It is the successor to the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.
How to Use This Resource: Journalists will find a database of adaptation resources such as reports, bill proposals, and datasets for policymakers on the federal, state and municipal level.
Adapting to Climate Change in Coastal Parks
Overview: The National Park Service is a branch of the United States Department of the Interior and is responsible for the upkeep and protection of national parks.
How to Use This Resource: Journalists will find a comprehensive report on how rising sea levels threaten national parks and what action is underway to address this threat.
Climate Adaptation Case Studies Map
Overview: The Climate Adaptation Knowledge Exchange is a shared information database by EcoAdapt and Island Press. It focuses on managing natural and built systems in the face of rapid climate change.
How to Use This Resource: The Case Studies Database map profiles on-the-ground adaptation investments across the globe and provides links to complete project information.
Coastal Storm Surge Scenarios for Water Utilities
Overview: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is the federal agency that develops policies concerned with human health and the environment.
How to Use This Resource: This map illustrates worst-case coastal storm scenarios with datasets from the National Hurricane Center, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
State and Local Climate Adaptation Map
Overview: The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions is an independent nonprofit advocating for policy action to address climate change. It is the successor to the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.
How to Use This Resource: This map shows how American cities and states are adapting to their individual climate challenges. It includes examples of city adaptation actions and provides plan details on a city and state level where available.
Resilient pathways: The Adaptation of the ICT Sector to Climate Change
Overview: Three United Nations Agencies – the International Telecommunications Union, UNESCO and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change – collaborated on this report, which calls for updated policy on climate change policy.
How to Use This Resource: This report explores the impacts of climate change on the information and communication technology sector, the potential for adaptation, and recommends new standards that need to be developed in order to protect economic growth.
Climate News Coverage
Overview: Mashable is a global media company that caters to the digital generation. It reports 45 million monthly unique visitors and 25 million social followers.
How to Use This Resource: Mashable’s climate coverage is led by Science Editor Andrew Freedman, one of the most prolific climate reporters in the United States. He covers breaking climate news, writes long-form analyses, and digests complex data on climate change. He publishes on a daily basis.
U.S. Congress Bills on Climate Change Adaptation Database
Overview: The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to advance climate change and energy policy in the United States.
How to Use This Resource: This database provides a list of every climate change bill in the 113th Congress. It identifies the bill’s sponsor, summarizes its contents, and reports on its status. Bills are organized by topic, which include climate change adaptation, energy, transportation, renewable fuels, and carbon.
The Resilient Social Network
Overview: The Homeland Security Studies and Analysis Institute is a federally funded research and development center that produces independent analysis on homeland security.
How to Use This Resource: Within hours of Sandy’s landfall in New Jersey, Occupy Wall Street members had created a social media network of humanitarian volunteers that would eventually grow to 60,000 members. This report studies how such grassroots activism might be utilized by the government when the next disaster strikes.
Climate Adaptation Publication Database
Overview: The San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association advocates for adaptation policy in the San Francisco Bay Area.
How to Use This Resource: Review an archive of research and policy recommendations to reduce carbon emissions and prepare the city for extreme weather and sea level rise.
Sustainability DC: Sustainable DC Plan
Overview: Sustainable DC is the District of Columbia’s major planning effort to make the city a sustainable one. It is led by the Department of Energy and Environment and the Office of Planning with input and participation of thousands of D.C. community members.
How to Use This Resource: The Sustainability DC Plan details how the capital intends to improve its infrastructure and adapt to the changing climate.
Adaptation in Action: Grantee Success Stories from CDC’s Climate and Health Program
Overview: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services. It uses its prevention expertise to advise cities and states on investigating, preparing for, and responding to the health ramifications of climate change.
How to Use This Resource: This progress report on the CDC’s climate change adaptation program details what health risks are caused by climate change and which programs have been most effective in combatting them.
Sustainable Cities: Building Cities for the Future
Overview: The United Kingdom’s Climate Action Programme and the American C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group partnered to publish this report on innovative climate change adaptation in Adelaide, Chicago, Copenhagen, Rio de Janeiro, and Tokyo.
How to Use This Resource: Journalists will find detailed analyses of city-level initiatives in carbon neutrality, public transportation, ecological architecture, and other such green topics.
Climate Security 101
Overview: The Climate Security 101 site is a project of the policy institute, The Center for Climate and Security, researching how climate risks affect security. It also posts updates on climate security research and policy documents.
How to Use this Resource: This site’s database on climate change and security features primary documents organized into categories of sources: U.S. Government, intergovernmental bodies, think tanks, etc.
National Climate Assessment Report
Overview: The U.S. Global Change Research Program is a coalition of 13 federal departments and agencies research the human-induced and natural processes of climate change.
How to Use This Resource: This interactive report details public and private sector adaptation planning happening in the United States. Few adaptation plans have been implemented and several enact only incremental changes.
Climate Change and Cities: First Assessment Report of the Urban Climate Change Research Network
Overview: The Urban Climate Change Research Network institutionalizes the assessment process of climate change science, tailored for urban needs.
How to Use This Resource: The ARC3 report is a global, interdisciplinary, science-based assessment of the climate change risks unique to cities. The next report in the series was to be published in time for the 2015 Paris UN climate conference.
National Climate Assessment NCANet Toolkit
Overview: The United States Global Change Research Program is a coalition of 13 federal departments and agencies research the human-induced and natural processes of climate change.
How to Use This Resource: Participants of this information-sharing platform contribute their climate change research materials to this easily searchable database. The Adaptation + Mitigation and Built Infrastructure sections cover climate change action on the federal, state, and local level.
Economic Aspects of Adaptation Research
Overview: The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is a consortium of 34 nations in Europe, North America, Asia, the Middle East and Asia that promote international economic development.
How to Use This Resource: Journalists will find research and reports from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on the economic aspects of climate change adaptation.
President Obama’s Plan to Fight Climate Change
Overview: WhiteHouse.gov serves as an archive of news and information pertaining to the President of the United States. It regularly publishes policies, speeches, reports and briefs.
How to Use This Resource: Journalists will find a structured explanation of federal government policies to reduce carbon pollution and encourage investment in clean energy. It also provides links to policy assessment reports, supporting research, and comprehensive fact sheets.
Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding: Strategy Stronger Communities, A Resilient Region
Overview: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Hurricane Sandy is a federal agency that oversees disaster relief funding and investment in resilient infrastructure.
How to Use This Resource: This report has extensive data on Hurricane Sandy’s impact on Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and the Shinnecock Indian Nation. It also clearly outlines the strategies federal government has taken and will take to repair and strengthen the coastline’s infrastructure.
Renewable Energy: Cutting Pollution, Creating Opportunity
Overview: The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is the agency responsible for the conservation of natural resources and enforcing the state’s environmental laws and regulations.
How to Use This Resource: Journalist will find information on energy policy in New York State – who provides it, how it is distributed, and what percentage is renewable. There is also information on state plans to to upgrade distribution infrastructure and increase reliance on clean energy.
Coastal Vulnerability to Sea Level Rise Map
Overview: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is a federal agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce dedicated to the preservation of oceans and the atmosphere.
How to Use This Resource: This map provides clear data on where sea levels rising will have the largest impact in the United States. The data can be sorted by erosion rate, tide range and wave height.
Climate Change Adaptation by Federal Agencies: An Analysis of Plans and Issues for Congress
Overview: The Congressional Research Service is the public policy research agency within the U.S. Congress.
How to Use This Resource: This report reviews federal agencies and their plans to adapt their infrastructure and operations to future climate change.
Hurricane Sandy Recovery Progress Report
Overview: This report provides updates on the progress of the Office of the Mayor’s Housing Recovery Operations and the Build it Back Program in the three years since Hurricane Sandy first hit New York City.
How to Use This Resource: The city intends to provide financial relief and expedite recovery for homeowners and better engage local communities directly in the rebuilding process. This report provides a detailed analysis of those efforts, as well as the Build it Back Program, which offers financial assistance to homeowners who were hit by the Hurricane Sandy.