Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI)

Cultural Heritage and Climate Change

Climate Adaptation Data Week



This briefing is part of a series on coastal climate adaptation data needs and applications. Find out more about the other briefings in this series below:



April 13
Localizing Sea Level Rise Projections for Decision-Makers


April 14
Assessing National Park Asset Flood Risk: Retreat, Adapt, Fortify?


April 16
Bridging the Gap Between Science and Decision-Making


April 17
Weather and Social Data to Inform Participatory Planning Initiatives

A live webcast will be streamed at 12:00 PM EDT at www.eesi.org/livecast.
Dr. Marcy Rockman, ICOMOS-IPCC Scientific Coordinator for the Climate Change and Heritage Working Group and Climate Researcher with Co-Equal, will speak about the intersection of cultural heritage and climate change. Based on her new Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences article on historical and cultural heritage, she will share recommendations on how agencies could better incorporate historical and cultural considerations into the U.S. response to climate change, with attention to the need to better compile and use relevant data.

Assessing National Park Asset Flood Risk: Retreat, Adapt, Fortify?

Climate Adaptation Data Week



This briefing is part of a series on coastal climate adaptation data needs and applications. Find out more about the other briefings in this series below:



April 13
Localizing Sea Level Rise Projections for Decision-Makers


April 15
Cultural Heritage and Climate Change


April 16
Bridging the Gap Between Science and Decision-Making


April 17
Weather and Social Data to Inform Participatory Planning Initiatives

The National Park Service owns thousands of buildings and other infrastructure at risk from coastal flooding and sea level rise. Dr. Rob Young, Director of Western Carolina University’s Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines, led a project to map and evaluate the vulnerability of each coastal NPS asset—from the Statue of Liberty to remote roads in Alaska—in order to help park managers decide what should be protected, what should be abandoned, and what should be moved further inland.

Localizing Sea Level Rise Projections for Decision-Makers

Climate Adaptation Data Week



This briefing is part of a series on coastal climate adaptation data needs and applications. Find out more about the other briefings in this series below:



April 14
Assessing National Park Asset Flood Risk: Retreat, Adapt, Fortify?


April 15
Cultural Heritage and Climate Change


April 16
Bridging the Gap Between Science and Decision-Making


April 17
Weather and Social Data to Inform Participatory Planning Initiatives

Global climate data is not always accessible to local decision-makers, especially when projections are at a country or hemispheric scale. The Washington Coastal Resilience Project addresses this problem by generating down-scaled probabilistic sea level rise predictions. Nicole Faghin, Coastal Management Specialist, and Dr. Ian Miller, Coastal Hazard Specialist, both at Washington Sea Grant, will share how they generated these predictions and work to disseminate the data to cities, towns, and NGOs working along the coast.

Financing Climate Mitigation and Resilience: Lessons from Hawaii

Please RSVP to expedite check-in

A live webcast will be streamed at 3:00 PM EDT at www.eesi.org/livecast


The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to a briefing on innovative efforts to finance and implement climate change mitigation and resilience projects. Featuring a panel from Hawaii, the briefing will explore steps the state is taking to reach carbon neutrality and run on 100 percent renewable energy by 2045. Hawaii’s top climate change official will discuss state-wide efforts to lead on climate, and the Executive Director of one of the most robust green banks in the country will speak about its unique features and how it supports companies, communities, and individuals as they work towards Hawaii’s climate goals in an equitable way.
Financing climate resilience projects is essential, but it is a tough nut to crack because the return on investment is not always clear. During this briefing, panelists will discuss efforts in Hawaii and across the country to finance and carry out projects to address sea level rise and increase coastal resilience. From organizations partnering with federal agencies to increase nature-based solutions along the coast to incentives designed around insurance pricing, these innovative climate and financing solutions will be key to addressing climate impacts around the country.

Coastal Resilience in the Southeast

Please RSVP

A live webcast will be streamed at 2:00 PM EDT at www.eesi.org/livecast


The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to a briefing on initiatives that are helping protect Southeast ecosystems and communities from erosion, storms, and other coastal hazards. The briefing will showcase nature-based solutions that can protect human lives and property from extreme weather and flooding while creating habitat for wildlife and supporting various coastal industries. These techniques can also be paired with traditional “gray” infrastructure to meet a greater variety of planning needs.
The panelists will describe the collaborative process between federal, state, and local stakeholders in collecting, sharing, and acting on scientific data to inform policy decisions around adaptation, thereby helping communities define and achieve their resilience goals. These projects can serve as a model for other regions experiencing similar issues.

A Security Threat Assessment of Global Climate Change

Please RSVP to expedite check-in
A live webcast will be streamed at 3:30 PM EST at www.eesi.org/livecast (wireless connection permitting)
The Center for Climate and Security and the Environmental and Energy Study Institute invite you to a briefing on projected climate change impacts on U.S. security and national interests in the coming decades. How will climate impacts affect geopolitics, infrastructure, and security environments in a world with a 2-degree Celsius rise in average global temperature? How about a 4-degree rise?
The briefing will showcase the Center for Climate and Security’s Security Threat Assessment of Global Climate Change report, a product of the National Security, Military, and Intelligence Panel on Climate Change. The report is a comprehensive look at the wide-ranging security impacts of climate change across all six geographic U.S. Combatant Commands, under two scenarios of future warming (a 1-2°C rise in temperatures, and a 2-4°C rise). Authored by a diverse group of U.S. national security and intelligence experts, this report offers both regional and international threat assessments for climate change, and recommendations for the way forward in addressing the looming global challenge.

2020 Sustainable Energy in America Factbook

Hosted in coordination with:
House and Senate Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Caucuses
Sponsored by:
Business Council for Sustainable Energy and Environmental and Energy Study Institute
Lunch will be served.
Please RSVP to expedite check-in
A live webcast will be streamed at 12:00 PM EST at www.eesi.org/livecast (wireless connection permitting)
The eighth edition of the Sustainable Energy in America Factbook, published in partnership by BloombergNEF (BNEF) and the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE), will be released on February 13, 2020, and available to download at www.bcse.org/factbook. The Factbook provides updates on industry information and trends for the U.S. energy economy, with an in-depth look at the energy efficiency, natural gas, and renewable energy sectors, as well as emerging areas such as digitalization, micro-grids, offshore wind, hydrogen, and renewable natural gas.

Coastal Resilience in the Great Lakes Region

Please RSVP to expedite check-in
A live webcast will be streamed at 2:30 PM EST at www.eesi.org/livecast (wireless connection permitting)
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to a briefing on the actions being taken to manage increasing temperatures, flooding, and other coastal hazards impacting communities and ecosystems in the Great Lakes region. This briefing will showcase nature-based solutions for climate adaptation in rural and urban settings, and show how cutting-edge technology and traditional practices can be used to create resilient communities.
The panelists will describe the collaborative process between federal, state, and local stakeholders in collecting, sharing, and acting on scientific data to inform policy decisions around adaptation and help communities define and achieve their resilience goals. These projects can serve as a model for other regions experiencing similar issues.

Resilience along the West Coast

Please RSVP to expedite check-in
A live webcast will be streamed at 1:30 PM EST at www.eesi.org/livecast (wireless connection permitting)
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) and the Coastal States Organization invite you to a briefing on science and policy initiatives that are helping protect West Coast ecosystems and communities from erosion, sea level rise, and other coastal hazards. The briefing will showcase nature-based solutions, which can protect human lives and property while creating habitat for wildlife and supporting various coastal industries. These techniques can also be paired with traditional “gray” infrastructure to meet a greater variety of planning needs.
The panelists will describe the collaborative process between federal, state, local, and Tribal stakeholders in collecting, sharing, and acting on scientific data to inform policy decisions around adaptation and help communities define and achieve their resilience goals. These projects can serve as a model for other regions experiencing similar issues

Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States

Please RSVP to expedite check-in
A live webcast will be streamed at 2:00 PM EST at www.eesi.org/livecast (wireless connection permitting)
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to a briefing on key information and recommendations from the report, Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States. Legal Pathways is based on two reports by the Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project that explain technical and policy approaches to reducing U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050. This 80x50 target and similarly aggressive carbon abatement goals are often referred to as deep decarbonization, as they require systemic changes to the energy economy.
This playbook for deep decarbonization in the United States identifies well over 1,000 options that are achievable in the United States using laws that exist or could be enacted. While both the scale and complexity of deep decarbonization are enormous, these legal tools can be employed with significant economic, social, environmental, and national security benefits.
Briefing panelists, including editors and contributing authors to the report, will discuss how the report can be useful to Congressional offices crafting climate change policies.