Temperate Adaptation Planner
Create a climate vulnerability assessment or adaptation planning effort that meets your community’s unique needs
Data-Informed Planning
This user-friendly tool was developed by Azavea, Inc in partnership with ICLEI USA, with the primary purpose of facilitating a data-informed adaptation planning process in small-to-midsize communities with little to no devoted resources to plan for climate change impacts.
More information on the purpose and development of Temperate can be found here.
Identify Top Hazards
Using Azavea’s Climate Application Program Interface (API), Temperate features 22 temperature and precipitation climate change indicators derived from either the NASA NEX-GDDP or UCSD LOCA datasets.
Currently, the Climate API includes data for 1,000 cities across the USA historically and under two popular carbon emission scenarios projected until the end of the century. To provide the most detail possible, Temperate averages more than 30 climate models provided by a variety of research institutions around the globe. For those who have particular models in mind, Temperate users can select one or more models of interest when looking at a specific indicator.
After the community selects its geography, Temperate will display some potential future climate hazards based on the geographic regions and findings included in the 2014 National Climate Assessment. If the community determines those hazards are not a concern for their city, the user can delete them from the list of Top Hazards. Hazards can be easily added and removed at any time.
Each Top Hazard is backed by one of the Climate indicators available in the Azavea Climate API. To calculate the value shown, we take the difference of the average value between two decadal periods: 1990–2000 and 2025–2035. For each decadal period, the value is calculated using the average of all available models across the entire period for the grid cell nearest to your selected location in the LOCA dataset.
Assess Vulnerability
After a list of hazards is selected, Temperate provides a list of community systems from which the community can select based on preliminary understanding of vulnerability and priorities. Like the hazards, community systems can also be added and removed later on as needed.
Temperate then generates a list of one-to-one pairs of hazards and community systems, based on the selections your community makes. For each pair, Temperate prompts to “assess” vulnerability of the community system to the hazard. The elements of vulnerability include future frequency, intensity, probability, potential impacts, and adaptive capacity. The first three elements can be directly informed by the climate data provided within Temperate, which can be accessed while the user is completing the assessment. The potential impacts and adaptive capacity can be informed by a combination of existing local/regional studies in your area, staff expertise, and community-wide knowledge/experience. ICLEI can advise on this part of the process, including where to find information and how to solicit input from the community and government staff.
Build an Action Plan
After a hazard-community system pair has been assessed, identify an action or set of actions to adapt and mitigate risk. The action can be written from scratch, or it can be based on a list of suggested actions gathered from adaptation plans of 43 cities, counties, or tribes across the country. Either way, the actions should be informed by the needs, capacity, and priorities of the community. ICLEI can advise on a community engagement strategy that solicits input on both vulnerability and solutions.
When you begin to create an action, you will be prompted to provide details on implementation, including a funding mechanism. Temperate provides a primer on funding mechanisms that will help your community decide how to finance each action. ICLEI can provide guidance on the development and funding of adaptation actions.
Get Technical Assistance from ICLEI
For ICLEI members, one of our technical advisors can walk you through different steps of the process as well as provide a high-level review of your completed vulnerability assessment and adaptation plan. If your community is not an ICLEI member or would like more in-depth guidance, choose a subscription package with consulting hours.
Prepare Your Community
Create your community’s climate vulnerability assessment or adaptation plan.