Integrating Equity into Climate Planning

BY ALISSA FARINA

The City of Miami is addressing its climate and equity crises simultaneously with innovative resilience, adaptation, carbon mitigation, and stormwater master plans.

Miami is one of the most vulnerable cities in the world to the impact of the climate crisis. We not only have billions of dollars of assets at risk, we have millions of residents at health and financial risk. In Miami-Dade County, 17% of households are in poverty, and 37% are working but are ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained but Employed), as defined by United Way. Our income inequality is second only to the New York metropolitan area.

When we talk about the climate crisis in Miami, we typically talk about extreme heat, floods caused by sea-level rise, and intensifying storms. But climate is a threat multiplier, meaning that existing threats, which can be social, financial, or health-related, are worsened by climate impacts. This also means that in instances of environmental racism, the impacts tend to be more intense as the climate crisis worsens. For example, as flooding becomes more of a nuisance and a threat, it makes sense for developers to move inland. However, this leads to an increased risk of climate gentrification, as the development of this land would displace vulnerable residents.

Miami Forever Climate Ready

Miami’s adaptation plan was released in January 2020 post-Hurricane Irma. We got a lot of feedback about how we could integrate equity into emergency preparedness and response and how basic education could bring about equity by helping people understand how climate change is impacting their communities. One of our most ambitious projects, Resilience Hubs, was designed to enhance our park facilities with more community amenities so that they can also serve as post-emergency convening centers.

Stormwater Master Plan

Our updated Stormwater Management Plan takes into account sea-level rise projections from the Southeast Florida Climate Change Compact. The plan includes data collection and digitization and developing a citywide capital improvements plan that is prioritized by areas of greatest need (as opposed to the greatest ROI). The projects are spread across the city, and they are related to not just flooding but also community engagement.

Miami Forever Carbon Neutral

The goal of our carbon mitigation plan is to develop a road map for the city to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, with an interim target for 2035. We have addressed our greenhouse gas emissions through the GREEN model: how we Get around, Renewable energy, Electric vehicles, Energy efficiency, and building a New Green Economy for Miami.

Defining Climate Justice

In South Florida, vulnerability is different from other places: Our most physically vulnerable

Alissa Farina

Resilience Program Manager, City of Miami

Miami, Florida

Alissa Farina is a Resilience Program Manager for the City of Miami’s Division of Resilience & Sustainability. She currently focuses on carbon mitigation, communications, and community engagement and is the project manager for Miami Forever Carbon Neutral, which outlines the city’s path to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. places are not the most socially vulnerable. We also debate what “people of color” actually means in Miami. So we decided to be explicit about what climate justice meant and how we would integrate that into our planning. The definition was co-developed with Catalyst Miami, a climate justice organization: “Climate justice communities are historically underinvested neighborhoods... populated by individuals that are low-income, predominantly Black, and recent immigrants. These neighborhoods tend to be viewed as less physically vulnerable to climate change... but their residents are relatively more socially vulnerable than other parts of the city.

Equity at Action Level

Another way we integrated equity was via a tool called ASAP (Action Selection and Prioritization), which was developed by AECOM with the C40 Cities network. We evaluated every action in the plan for cobenefits and feasibility. For equity, we included considerations for employment, cost of living, and climate justice. Some actions scored negatively for climate justice, so we reviewed those actions and where we could add provisions to address those concerns.

Climate Justice via Green Economy

As mentioned, we had a section in our carbon plan called the New Green Economy, where we think about how the actions we are committing to can generate economic opportunity, create jobs, and build and diversify our economy. Nationally, jobs related to green infrastructure and sustainability are well-paying jobs, but our research shows that Miami lags behind national averages, underscoring the need for workforce development and training to truly deliver on a local green economy that provides living-wage jobs for people of all ethnicities and races.