Partially in response to an accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, temperatures are rising and patterns in climatic behavior are changing. Though it was, and still is a hotly debated topic of discussion, there is an ever increasing arsenal of scientific evidence that supports that succession of climate change. International, national, and local actions and policies have to be molded to address potential adaptation plans.

On the local level, since my interest is primarily in New York State, there have been policies and programs put in place to address the issue of climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. For example in 1998 New York State established a System Benefit Charge that is based on electricity produced by investor-owned utilities. NYSERDA launched the New York Energy $mart programs to improve energy efficiency and advance research and development of renewable energy (Get Energy Smart). Similarly the New York Power Authority (NYPA) and the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) have also developed programs to manage energy efficiency. NYPA has committed $100 million per year for energy efficiency projects and LIPA is investing approximately $34 million per year in energy efficiency, renewable technology and clean distributed generation. The state has also established the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) to ensure that at least 25% of the electricity provided to customers comes from renewable resources by the year 2013. Other programs include the landmark Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), launched by New York, which resulted in a multi-state agreement involving Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont, and Maryland. It is a cap-and-trade type program that attempts to aims to reduce gas emissions from power plants by 10% by 2019.

The accumulation of efforts cannot stop here. In order to be more effective research must be conducted in terms mitigating climate change impacts, and understanding and monitoring impacts and managing risks. The Integrated Assessment for Effective Climate Change Adaptation Strategies in New York State (ClimAID) is one particularly promising channel of exploration.

I returned to my internship this past week after a short leave of absence. I have mentioned in previous posts that my work will involve reaching out to the various stakeholders ClimAID. The stakeholders fall under eight sectors: Agriculture, Ecosystems, Ocean Coastal Zones, Energy, Transportation and Communications Infrastructure, Public Health, and Water Resources. The ClimAID team, which consists of university and research scientists from across the state that specialize in aspects of climate change, impacts, and adaptation, participates in meetings with the stakeholder communities. Ultimately the goal is to allow stakeholders to make informed decisions regarding climate change based on analytical findings that encompass scientific, economic and policy-based evaluations. One way that I am contributing to this end is through my work to restructure the architecture of several program documents, one of the most notable being the Decision Matrix. This document will provide stakeholders with a relevant one-page summary for each chapter on particular climate variables, potential impacts and risks, likelihood of climate events, adaptation strategies etc. The value in this matrix is that it translates scientific information into a relevant and accessible form that is useful for informing stakeholders and decision makers. I have already encountered a number of complexities in creating a comprehensive document across a wide range of issues that are difficult to classify in and of itself. Resolving such challenges will be on ongoing theme in the weeks to come at my internship. A more detailed progress report will come soon...