Resilience Scanner

Temperate Climate Adaptation Planning Tool for Mid-Sized Cities

Solution Overview

Nashville utilizes the Temperate Climate Adaptation Planning Tool to identify and address climate risks between 2025 and 2035, including increased intense storms, tornadoes, flooding, and extreme heat days.[1] This web-based subscription service was developed through a partnership between ICLEI USA, Azavea (a beneficial corporation and software developer in Philadelphia), and Dr. Missy Stultz, a former ICLEI USA staff member, to help local governments with limited resources develop climate change adaptation plans and align those plans with the reporting requirements of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy.[4] The platform is designed specifically for small and mid-sized cities that cannot afford custom engagements, offering an intuitive decision-support tool at just $1,500 per year.[2]

Technical Components

The system features an application programming interface (API) capable of returning climate data in real time (under 5 seconds) for arbitrary combinations of dataset, climate model, years of interest, and low or high emissions scenario for thousands of locations throughout the United States.[2] The Climate API provides users with twenty-two derived temperature and precipitation climate indicators including Average Monthly High Temperature, Cooling Degree Days, Heat Wave Duration Index, and Yearly Dry Spells.[2] Azavea used Amazon Web Services (AWS) to develop this low-cost climate change adaptation planning tool, with AWS Open Data Sponsorship Program making the application and underlying Climate API possible by hosting climate change datasets like NEX-GDDP (NASA's Global Daily Downscaled Projections) and making it available to anyone in the Registry of Open Data on AWS.[7] The dashboard displays city-specific potential future climate hazards based on the geographic regions and findings included in the 2014 National Climate Assessment.[4] Using available temperature and precipitation climate projections for the user's location, the platform suggests potential future climate hazards that may be of significance.[6] The technology displays information through compelling visualizations including maps, charts and graphs that illustrate relationships between exposures, impacts and strategies.[8]

Implementation Details

This approach is designed to help cities move through the process of climate change adaptation planning, including exploring climate hazards, creating vulnerability assessments, and crafting action plans.[6] After exploring potential hazards, the system walks users through assessing each hazard's possible impact on various community systems.[6] Following the assessment stage, the platform suggests possible actions the user might take to address the risk, based on a database of strategies currently being used by a subset of US cities.[6] The tool gives users access to climate adaptation planning experts at ICLEI-USA to help develop custom plans for their city.[3] Users can get advice and support from the experienced adaptation planners at ICLEI-USA at any stage of the process.[6] ICLEI USA provides 2-6 hours of support to its members.[4] Communities in the New York Hudson Valley, including Hastings-on-Hudson and New Paltz, are using this approach to develop community-driven climate vulnerability assessments.[9]

Benefits and Impacts

This decision-support tool allows communities to move beyond exploring charts and graphs and take steps toward vulnerability assessments and long-term adaptation planning at a very low cost.[2] The platform can rapidly process fine-resolution climate projection data and guide users through the creation of a vulnerability assessment and adaptation plans.[8] The system offers communities an affordable way to assess climate hazards and address adaptation priorities using temperature, precipitation and other climate data specific to their community.[9]

Climate Adaptation Relevance

The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County is estimated to face increased numbers of intense storms and tornadoes and more frequent flooding and extreme heat days per year between 2025 and 2035.[1] This approach addresses these needs by developing web-based tools that enable local decision-makers to combine key discoverable datasets about their community's natural, built, and economic environments with fine-resolution climate projection data in powerful ways that support policy-making and resource allocation.[5]

Business Analysis

The platform operates through an annual license fee model at $1,500 per year, making it accessible for small and mid-sized communities that lack dedicated resources for climate change planning and the development of action plans.[2][7] This subscription service was made financially viable through AWS Open Data Sponsorship Program support, which enabled hosting of critical climate datasets at no cost to users.[7] The partnership structure between ICLEI USA and Azavea provides both technical development capacity and climate adaptation planning expertise, creating a comprehensive service offering that includes both software access and professional consulting support.[4] The business model specifically targets municipalities that cannot afford custom climate adaptation engagements, addressing a significant market gap for resource-constrained local governments seeking to meet international reporting requirements under the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy.[4]

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