Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Sept. 11 launched a website to help federal funding applicants consider climate resilience and adaptation as they develop projects.
- The Climate Resilience and Adaptation Funding Toolbox website includes overviews of EPA’s financial assistance programs, community engagement resources, climate-risk tools and definitions of common climate-related terms used by the federal government.
- The new resources come after experts, including those with the U.S. Government Accountability Office, have voiced concerns about communities struggling to navigate complex, often overlapping federal funding programs.
Dive Insight:
Across the federal government, agencies are trying to further climate resilience. In June, more than 20 federal agencies released updated climate adaptation plans for the next three years. These plans include considering climate resilience when deciding where to direct grants and other external funding.
Supported in part by the 2021 infrastructure law and Inflation Reduction Act, the EPA is offering a slew of funding opportunities. In overviews of these programs on the CRAFT website, the EPA outlines information that can help potential applicants quickly determine how an opportunity can fit their project goals, the agency says. The information provided includes the type of adaptation and resilience projects that could be considered for funding, available technical assistance and important connections to any other federal or non-governmental efforts.
For example, the overview for the Brownfields and Land Revitalization Program notes that it can be used in combination with the EPA’s Community Change Grants Program to support “climate-smart” brownfield revitalization projects.
Meanwhile, the definitions page of the website describes terms from adaptive capacity — the ability of a human or natural system to adapt to climate change — to zero-emissions technology, which is a technology that doesn’t emit greenhouse gases or certain air pollutants outlined in the federal Clean Air Act.
The EPA says that its new website can help communities that are just getting started with learning about “climate-smart investments” and that have historically been unable to access federal funding. The resources could also reduce the administrative burden on applicants as they develop, apply for and implement projects.
“The information in CRAFT can help federal funding applicants and recipients consider climate-related challenges to their projects at the outset, so taxpayer dollars can be invested wisely,” the EPA said in a press release.
Earlier this year, the EPA unveiled an online library of environmental justice-related resources, including available funding opportunities, screening and mapping tools and federal research and guides.
