The Earth’s climate is rapidly changing. In the United States and other nations, people are seeing how the impacts of rising global temperatures affect their communities, their livelihoods, and the natural environment. Substantially reducing greenhouse gas emissions is essential to avoiding the worst impacts of climate change. But mitigation alone is not enough. Even with emission reductions, some warming will still occur. Adaptation planning at the local, state, and national levels can limit the damage caused by climate change, as well as the long-term costs of responding to climate-related impacts that are expected to grow in number and intensity in the decades to come.

To learn more about adaptation, read Climate Change 101: Adaptation [1] and check out the additional resources below.

International Adaptation Resources:

• Adaptation to Climate Change: International Policy Options [2]
  November 2006

U.S. Federal Adaptation Resources:

• Adaptation Bill Proposals in the 110th Congress
  [3]Regularly Updated
• Coping With Climate Change: The Role of Adaptation in the U.S. [4]
  June 2004

U.S. States & Regions Adaptation Resources:

• Adaptation Planning: What U.S. States and Localities are Doing [5]
  September 2008
  • Related Reading: Regional Impacts of Climate Change: Four Case Studies in the U.S. [6]
    December 2007
• MAP: State Adaptation Plans
  [7]Updated Regularly
• Adaptation 101 [8] - A brief on U.S. climate adaptation efforts (pdf)
  February 2008

• Adapting to Climate Change: A Business Approach [9]
  April 2008