Climate Adaptation Plan

Significant weather events have caused substantial physical and economic damages in Maplewood.  Without global action to address climate issues, Maplewood and the world will face threats to their economic livelihood, public health, and supplies of food, clean water, and power.  Vulnerable populations, especially those with lower incomes and older residents, often bear the brunt of these  extreme weather events. 

In April 2017, paleBLUEdot developed a Climate Vulnerability Assessment for the City of Maplewood.  The goal of the project was to serve as an assessment of Maplewood’s forecasted climate change, impact exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity to changing climate conditions.  The Vulnerability Assessment mapped climate vulnerable populations in Maplewood and serves as a foundation for prioritizing climate adaptation needs and actions. 

In June 2018, paleBLUEdot and the City of Maplewood jointly secured a grant from the MPCA to develop a Climate Adaptation Plan based on the 2018 Vulnerability Assessment.  This plan is the result of that effort.  This Climate Adaptation Plan outlines strategic goals and detailed actions to guide the City towards a more resilient, climate change ready condition.

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Developing The Plan
Development and implementation of the Maplewood Climate Adaptation Plan are opportunities for the City of Maplewood government (City) and partners in the community to research and articulate some of Maplewood’s most pressing resilience challenges; identify specific, multi-benefit actions that contribute to solutions to those challenges; and secure additional resources, technical assistance, and partnerships to accelerate next steps.

The goals and actions identified in the Climate Adaptation Plan are grounded in community input, expert analysis, and best practices from other cities throughout the United States.  Strategic goals and detailed actions were developed by the Planning Team through a series of workshop meetings.  A preliminary draft of actions were reviewed against action screening criteria which enabled the Planning Team to evaluate, refine, finalize, and prioritize the actions to be incorporated in the final Climate Adaptation Plan. 

The next step for the City of Maplewood will be the development of a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Mitigation/Reduction Plan.

GreenStep Cities
Maplewood is a participant in the Minnesota GreenStep Cities program. This planning effort meets the Best Practice Action 29.2 requirements. Learn more about Maplewood’s GreenStep Cities accomplishments here.

Infographics:

The Maplewood Climate Adaptation Plan

The final deliverables provided for the Maplewood Climate Adaptation Plan include the plan document and the Climate Adaptation Plan Policy Database including example municipal policies and ordinances relevant to the Climate Adaptation Plan.

The Plan

Click here to download a copy of the plan

The Climate Action Plan Policy Database

You can find a database of example policies and ordinances to support a range of actions included in the CAP here.

MPCA Climate Adaptation Plan Toolkit
Ramsey County

Based on the Maplewood Climate Action Planning process and plan, the following has been developed as a Climate Adaptation Plan Toolkit for use by other communities in Ramsey County or the surrounding region. This Toolkit is provided, in part, by the 2018 State of Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Environmental Assistance Grant.