Federal Climate Change Adaptation: Current Efforts, Political Debates, and Future Potential

To reserve, e-mail mcmurrin@eli.org. Please reserve by November 28, 2011. There is no charge to attend or to participate by optional teleconference, but you must RSVP. RSVPs should include: name of registrant, email address, and whether they wish to attend in person or participate via teleconference. Please note that in-person attendance is limited. Teleconference information will be emailed one business day prior to the event.

In 2009, President Obama signed an executive order which, in part, required participation of federal agencies in an interagency task force to address climate change adaptation. A memorandum issued by the CEQ in 2010 instructed agencies on consideration of climate change effects in NEPA implementation. Specific agencies, such as the Department of the Interior, have also declared their intentions to develop and implement climate change adaptation policies. In October 2011, the Federal Interagency Task Force released a progress report addressing, among other things, the Integration of Adaptation into Federal Government planning and activities.

Please join Victor B. Flatt, 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM, for a review of what has happened so far in climate change adaptation at the federal level, what legal authority exists for further adaptation policy, and the current political debate surrounding the issue which could affect federal policy making. Professor Flatt is an ELI Visiting Scholar, the Tom & Elizabeth Taft Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law, and the Director of Center for Law, Environment, Adaptation and Resources (CLEAR) at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Law.

An ELI Research Program Seminar