Final Climate Ready Boston Report Outlined

A final report for Climate Ready Boston, the city’s initiative to prepare for the impacts of climate change has been released by Mayor Martin J. Walsh at a press briefing accompanied by several department heads and other organizations and agencies.

Updated climate projections, a citywide climate vulnerability assessment and recommended climate resiliency strategies and a roadmap for implementation were included in the report.

Climate Ready Boston provided recommendations about how the city’s neighborhoods and infrastructure can respond to climate change and become more resilient.

Report findings will be incorporated into Imagine Boston 2030, Go Boston 2030, led by the Boston Transportation Department as well as resiliency planning led by the City’s Chief Resilience Officer.

The initiative was led by the city in partnership with the Green Ribbon Commission and with support from the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zoning Management.

“Boston is more climate ready today than it has ever been before,” said Mayor Walsh in a press release. “We have the knowledge, talent and resources to prepare our neighborhoods and businesses for climate change and will continue to cut carbon emissions, tackling climate change head on.”

To address these challenges, the latest Climate Ready Boston report features for components:

  • Updated Climate Projections: Updated projections for four climate factors, extreme temperatures, sea level rise, increased precipitation and storms.
  • Vulnerabilities Assessment: A comprehensive evaluation of current and potential future risks associated with extreme heat and flooding on Boston’s residents, buildings, infrastructure and economy.
  • Climate Resilience Initiatives: Recommended policy, planning, programmatic, and financial initiatives that address the risks identified in the Vulnerability Assessment, summarized in a recommended Implementation Roadmap that sets forth, for each initiative, timeframe and key milestones.
  • Focus Areas: Eight Boston areas where the results of the Vulnerability Assessment and the climate resilience initiatives are applied in more detail to illustrate the risks Boston faces and how Boston can address them. The focus areas recognized that some risks, particularly for coastal and riverine flooding, is spatially concentrated.

The report is available at https://www.boston.gov/climate-ready.

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