Climate change is happening now and is affecting New Jersey with heavier rains, warmer temperatures, and more coastal flooding, and these trends are expected to continue through this century. Municipalities in NJ and around the US are finding innovative ideas and programs to combat climate change by becoming more resilient. A number of municipalities have aggressive Climate Action Plans including Princeton, Hoboken and Trenton with Jersey City under way in developing one. These plans can be used as models for your community.
NJDEP has developed a resource to help local governments in New Jersey understand how their communities can proactively plan for the changing climate and build resilience into their local governance. The toolkit includes a Resilience Library of resources, case studies, templates and worksheets to help identify hazards, assess vulnerabilities, prioritize assets and develop strategies and solutions for local climate resiliency. The Resilience Library can be found here.
Under Governor Phil Murphy’s Executive Order No. 100 (2020), former Commissioner Catherine McCabe issued Administrative Order No. 1 (2020) requiring the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to begin a regulatory reform effort to help reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) and other climate pollutant emissions while making our natural and built environments more resilient to the impacts of climate change that we cannot avoid. These reforms represent a PACT (Protecting Against Climate Threats) with the residents of New Jersey to help them to both stave off the worst impacts of climate change and adapt to the unavoidable impacts already occurring in New Jersey. Information about NJPACT can be found here.