Guest post by Carley Petrone, KLA's Climate Analysis Manager

In today’s world, climate change is reshaping the realities that we once held true. With events like Hurricane Helene that devastated Western North Carolina, the deadliest U.S. hurricane since Katrina, the notion of a “climate haven” is proving to be increasingly uncertain.

In one week, Helene dumped 40 trillion gallons of water across the Southeast —or enough rainwater to fill 60 million Olympic-size swimming pools. Unfortunately, this event is not expected to be a one-time occurrence. With climate change, scientists expect storms to become more frequent and intense as rising ocean temperatures fuel stronger winds and warmer air holds more moisture, leading to heavier rainfall and increased flooding. 

The economic toll of natural disasters tells the same story. In 2022 alone, the cost of natural disasters exceeded $360 billion across the globe, including more than 40 weather events causing over $1 billion in damage. These numbers reiterate the urgent need for every community, regardless of geography, to invest in resilience and adaptation measures. Side note: Generally speaking, resilience indicates the ability to prepare for, recover from, and adapt to climate impacts and adaptation is described as “adjustments to how we live, work, and play to keep us safe from the impacts of climate change.” They are sometimes used interchangeably though there are distinct differences. For purposes of this article, we’re talking broader climate resilience.

The good news: every $1 invested in resilience and disaster preparedness saves $13 in economic impact, damage, and cleanup costs after the event, according to the Climate Resiliency Report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Allstate, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. Bottom line is it’s a smart investment whether you’re staring down more hurricanes, flooding, or extreme heat.  

At KLA is fresh off two conferences: the American Public Works Association (APWA) PWX Conference and the New England Chapter of APWA (NEAPWA) Conference. Speaking to an audience of public works professionals at both events, we joined our partners on panels to discuss public works’ ongoing role in climate action implementation and how to embrace collaborative approaches that integrate sustainability considerations across all local government operations.  

We've shared some broad brushstrokes from those presentations here, the focal point of both being our Climate Action Framework -- a tool that can help make your climate, sustainability and resilience plans stick. 

At KLA we're on a mission to elevate local climate action to match the urgency of the climate crisis. For us, the last few days have only sharpened that focus. 

We're coming off Climate Week in NYC, under the banner of "It's Time." We could not agree more and echo what we heard in the opening remarks: "It’s Time to think about the crucial decisions and action we need to start taking right now."

Hurricane Helene and other storms then underscored that urgency with a path of destruction across the South, devastating mountain communities in Western North Carolina hundreds of miles from any coast. No place is immune to extreme weather exacerbated by climate change. 

Each summer, KLA works with MassCEC’s Clean Energy Internship program to connect with passionate, committed, and mission-driven students from across Massachusetts, our home base. The KLA Summer Internship helps connect a broad range of students to the local climate action process and brings fresh perspectives to our work fighting the climate crisis one local government at a time.  

Climate ambassadors in Cary, NC spread the word about the Count Me in, Cary! climate action strategy

You might not be surprised to learn that trust in federal elected officials is in the basement. Only about32% of Americans have a “great deal/fair amount of trust” in Congress – 23% have “none at all”.  Top billing for trust among government institutions is local governments with 67% (though even that number has dropped from 75% just a few years ago). 

Source: Gallup

Perhaps that reflects your own opinions or rings true with what you see in the headlines.It’s one of the many reasons why KLA focusesalmost exclusively on local governments. But our laser focus on US cities, towns and counties is rooted more in the positives than the negatives: they are perfectly positioned and extremely motivated to meet the urgency of the climate crisis. Not through municipal operations alone but by sparking and enabling behavior change in the community.  

Stakeholder meeting between Cary, NC sustainability staff and first responders

September is National Preparedness Month, and as the world comes out of a scorching summer with seemingly never-ending climate hazards (think wildfire smoke on the East coast, freak flooding and hail events in the Southwest, and record temperatures across the country), integrating emergency preparedness into climate action planning is more important than ever. Summer 2023 was Earth’s hottest on record, with over 97% of the American population experiencing at least one summer day notably influenced by climate change.

For many municipalities, it might not be standard operating procedures for a sustainability team to actively collaborate with first responders and public safety officials during the climate action planning process – but it absolutely should be. When it comes to best preparing your community for the effects of climate change, cross-departmental collaboration isn’t a tick-the-box or nice-to-have. It’s absolutely essential.

Guest Post by Dunia Seidu, KLA Summer 2023 Climate Storytelling Intern.

Dunia is a rising senior studying English at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.  As Climate Storytelling Intern, she worked with a range of KLA clients, like Cambridge, to tell stories about their current efforts to address and adapt to climate change.

The City of Cambridge has announced a new pilot partnership with BlocPower, is a climate technology company that analyzes, finances and upgrades homes and buildings, becoming the first city in New England to work with the climate technology company on building decarbonization. 

As a small business working with local governments, the strength of KLA is in our people. Every member of our team plays a crucial role in shaping the work we do and driving positive change in the communities we work with. Our work with local governments requires the collaborative efforts of individuals across the country with different backgrounds, experiences, and fresh perspectives – so we are thrilled to be welcoming a new class of bright and talented KLA interns to our team! 

Leadership and climate action are KLA's bread and butter, or... our solar panels and sun. If you know us, then you know leadership is one of our five core values. We have seen how strong local leadership can make or break a sustainable future, so our focus is squarely on equipping our clients with the tools and skills to navigate difficult decisions, budget restrictions, and competing priorities to create a legacy of leadership.

KLA clients lead the way with innovative, scalable, replicable climate solutions at the local level.
Each month in 2022 we will shine a spotlight on their bright ideas.

Guest post by Mike Steinhoff, KLA’s Director of Climate Analysis 

Local governments need access to consistent, high-quality data to develop and track progress on implementation of climate action plans. Massachusetts and other states are working to level the data playing field for more ambitious targets and results. In Massachusetts this has historically happened in fits and starts, but as they formalize more of these processes, we hope to see more agencies providing actionable information from the start. 

We have a strong focus at KLA on the importance of data in the battle against climate change. But not all data is created equal. And the good stuff isn’t always easy to find or possible to access.  

Ask any local government sustainability or climate staff if they’ve ever been stymied or frustrated by their search for data like “How many EVs are in my community?” or “How much energy did we use this year compared to last?”, and you’ll be flooded with examples. And on the other end, utilities and the like are hit with one-off requests at random from each city, town, county. Thus, they provide one-off responses with no guarantee of consistency.  

States cannot meet ambitious greenhouse gas emissions reductions goals without local governments. It stands to reason that you don’t want them all trying to innovate independently or recreate the wheel. They would be wise to follow the lead of Massachusetts which has given its local governments and therefore itself a leg up in this arena by providing the funding, data and tools to align and achieve goals.