February is an important month in the Connecticut General Assembly: Governor Ned Lamont unveiled his Biennial Budget Adjustment Proposal for the state, which included a number of funding opportunities for climate change planning and adaptation.

One exciting initiative, Promoting the Environment, Resiliency, and Climate Change Preparedness, proposes $5.75 million in ARPA funding to support statewide resiliency planning and climate preparedness.

Specific initiatives supported by this funding include:

• Development of a statewide resilience plan and project design.
• A statewide climate change vulnerability assessment.
• Flood hydrologic modeling.
• An extreme heat preparedness plan and capacity building effort.
• Development and integration of local culvert mapping into statewide GIS resources.

The Governor has also proposed a package of resiliency and climate preparedness legislation. Aimed at addressing ever-present changes in climate, this legislation seeks to include climate change, resiliency, rising temperature, and rising sea level changes across the state and municipal planning processes, including Plans of Conservation and Development, building codes, and emergency planning.  

Finally, we are glad to see a proposal for a $5 million increase to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s Microgrid and resilience grant and loan program. Additional funds will address extreme heat risk reduction infrastructure.

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As evidenced over the past decade, Connecticut is not immune to the impacts of climate change. The Governor’s budget proposals include critical investments in our state, our people, and our wildlife.

Stay tuned for more this Session.