Climate & Resilience: Page 3


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    Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images
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    FEMA

    5 steps to disaster-proof your city as FEMA pulls back

    FEMA is stretched thin, a GAO report warns. Its author offers advice for local leaders to respond strategically and build resilience now.

    By Sept. 30, 2025
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    How NYC is turning ambitious climate goals into results

    At NYC Climate Week, the city’s climate office director highlighted tools like FloodNet and the NYC Accelerator as proof the city’s integrated approach to energy, equity and resilience is working.

    By Sept. 25, 2025
  • Trendline

    Top 5 stories from Smart Cities Dive

    From worsening climate change to a shifting transportation landscape and the housing affordability crisis, cities have their work cut out for them.

    By Smart Cities Dive staff
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    Getty Images
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    White House will revoke EPA climate endangerment finding Thursday, Leavitt says

    The Trump administration is calling it the largest deregulatory action in U.S. history. Environmental leaders say local governments must now safeguard public health and climate resilience.

    By Updated Feb. 11, 2026
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    Getty Images
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    5 forces driving building retrofits and how cities can lead the shift

    With nearly 1.5 billion square feet of aging stock in sustainability-focused markets, local governments are positioned to accelerate decarbonization, a JLL report finds.

    By Sept. 23, 2025
  • California Gov. Gavin Newsom
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    Justin Sullivan via Getty Images
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    Newsom signs California energy package into law

    The new provisions seek to address rising electricity costs, wildfire mitigation and climate funding. The package includes a blueprint for a regional Western electricity market and requires community air monitoring in select locations.

    By Meris Lutz • Sept. 23, 2025
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    Permission granted by City of Charlotte
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    All-electric firehouse and net-zero police station help Charlotte, N.C., meet climate goals

    The city has invested $36 million to build the facilities, which align emergency response with an ambitious strategic energy initiative.

    By Sept. 18, 2025
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    Getty Images
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    Cities can lead the way on resilient cooling, report says

    Local officials have the tools to expand access to affordable cooling while boosting grid resilience and economic development, according to the Federation of American Scientists.

    By Sept. 17, 2025
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    CenterPoint Energy courts Minnesota communities for networked geothermal pilot

    The utility is hoping to prove to local governments that such decarbonization efforts can meet residents’ energy needs in a cold-weather climate.

    By Brian Martucci • Sept. 16, 2025
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    Jeff Swensen via Getty Images
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    EPA moves to end greenhouse gas emissions reporting

    Gutting the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program would strip local governments of information they rely on to hold polluters accountable and undermine efforts to protect residents’ health, climate advocates say.

    By Sept. 15, 2025
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    Kevin Dietsch via Getty Images
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    FEMA

    9 ways the FEMA Act would reform federal disaster response

    Cities are rallying behind the Fixing Emergency Management for Americans Act, which they say would cut red tape, accelerate recovery funding and strengthen resilience against future disasters.

    By Sept. 11, 2025
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    Getty Images
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    Traffic cameras double as a hurricane-response system in this South Carolina county

    By connecting existing cameras to an AI-powered command hub, a hurricane-prone county plans to track evacuation patterns, adjust routes on the fly and strengthen recovery planning.

    By Sept. 10, 2025
  • Podcast cover image for "Cities in Motion," presented by TomTalks and Smart Cities Dive, featuring an aerial view of a busy urban highway network.
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    Danielle Ternes/Smart Cities Dive
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    Sponsored by TomTom

    [Podcast] Key trends in urban mobility transformation

    In this podcast series, explore trending topics related to the larger theme of urban mobility transformation challenges and opportunities.

    By Smart Cities Dive's studioID • Updated July 10, 2025
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    Andrew Harnik via Getty Images
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    13 state governors join coalition to promote EVs

    The Affordable Clean Cars Coalition said it will push back against the Trump administration's policies of “putting polluters over people.”

    By Sept. 8, 2025
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    Spencer Platt via Getty Images
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    New data tool helps Gulf Coast cities pursue disaster funding as federal resources shrink

    The Urban Institute’s analysis gives local leaders information they can use to build cases for prevention and recovery support.

    By Aug. 28, 2025
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    Permission granted by Water Wise Gulf South
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    Deep Dive // Green infrastructure

    After Katrina, green infrastructure aims to supplement the rebuilt — but still vulnerable — levees

    Residents and activists are forging resilient communities and implementing “flood mitigation by 1,000 cuts.”

    By Aug. 27, 2025
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    Mario Tama via Getty Images
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    Hurricane Katrina’s legacy is a warning for today’s city leaders

    Twenty years after New Orleans flooded, federal funding cuts mean local governments must strengthen hazard planning, engage communities and prioritize vulnerable residents to prevent another avoidable disaster, climate advocates say.

    By Aug. 22, 2025
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    Justin Sullivan via Getty Images
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    Opinion

    California’s clean mobility push is leaving low-income residents behind

    E-bikes and e-scooters are among the cleanest and least expensive transportation modes. California can make equitable green mobility a reality.

    By Marta Anadón Rosinach • Aug. 21, 2025
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    Getty Images
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    Should schools be the centerpiece of heat resilience action?

    As federal support to protect people from extreme heat shrinks, advocates say local governments must set a model for climate-smart leadership with enforceable standards and resources to protect children.

    By Aug. 19, 2025
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    Permission granted by AirJoule Technologies
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    Texas city pioneers tech that uses waste heat to generate drinking water

    AirJoule’s first U.S. field deployment will tap into a geothermal well to turn air into distilled water for the municipal supply.

    By Aug. 13, 2025
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    Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images
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    What NEPA rollbacks mean for local projects

    The Trump administration’s elimination of environmental regulations based on the 1970 law could mean faster permitting but reduce cities’ recourse for weighing in on federally funded projects in their communities, experts say.

    By Aug. 11, 2025
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    California cities, Nevada State University join forces on climate resilience

    Seven public agencies are partnering with Urban Land Institute to develop strategies for extreme heat, disaster preparedness and resilient housing.

    By Lori Tobias • Aug. 11, 2025
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    Adam Gray via Getty Images
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    AI could cut disaster infrastructure losses by 15%, new research finds

    Artificial intelligence applications like predictive maintenance and digital twins can help keep the power on and the roads open during natural disasters — and save $70 billion in infrastructure losses by 2050, according to a Deloitte Global report.

    By Aug. 6, 2025
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    Permission granted by Wenk Associates
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    Green infrastructure

    Denver development recruits its river for urban flood control

    The River Mile project is treating the South Platte River as natural infrastructure, delivering flood protection, recreation and economic opportunity on land once considered undevelopable.

    By Aug. 4, 2025
  • An electric utility truck drives down a street after a wildfire.
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    Michael Ciaglo via Getty Images
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    Xcel Energy ‘prepared to go to trial’ to fight Colorado fire liability

    The company contends that it did not start the late 2021 Colorado blaze, which caused an estimated $2 billion in damages.

    By Emma Penrod • Aug. 4, 2025
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    Getty Images
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    EPA’s move to gut key climate regulation raises stakes for city leaders

    A repeal of the endangerment finding would make local climate policy a new battleground in continuing tensions between the Trump administration and cities, a legal scholar suggests.

    By July 30, 2025