U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Research and Development
Climate Adaptation Implementation Plan
Prepared by the OKD Climate Adaptation Implementation Plan Team
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ORD Climate Adaptation Implementation Plan June 2014
Disclaimer
To the extent this document mentions or discusses statutory or regulatory authority, it does so
for informational purposes only. This document does not substitute for those statutes or
regulations, and readers should consult the statutes or regulations to learn what they
require. Neither this document, nor any part of it, is itself a rule or a regulation. Thus, it cannot
change or impose legally binding requirements on EPA, States, the public, or the regulated
community. Further, any expressed intention, suggestion or recommendation does not impose
any legally binding requirements on EPA, States, tribes, the public, or the regulated community.
Agency decision makers remain free to exercise their discretion in choosing to implement the
actions described in this Plan. Such implementation is contingent upon availability of resources
and is subject to change.
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ORD Climate Adaptation Implementation Plan June 2014
Preface
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is committed to identifying and responding to
the challenges that a changing climate poses to human health and the environment.
Scientific evidence demonstrates that the climate is changing at an increasingly rapid rate, outside
the range to which society has adapted in the past. These changes can pose significant challenges
to the EPA's ability to fulfill its mission. The EPA must adapt to climate change if it is to continue
fulfilling its statutory, regulatory and programmatic requirements. The Agency is therefore
anticipating and planning for future changes in climate to ensure it continues to fulfill its mission
of protecting human health and the environment even as the climate changes.
In February 2013, the EPA released its draft Climate Change Adaptation Plan to the public for
review and comment. The plan relies on peer-reviewed scientific information and expert
judgment to identify vulnerabilities to EPA's mission and goals from climate change. The plan also
presents 10 priority actions that EPA will take to ensure that its programs, policies, rules, and
operations will remain effective under future climatic conditions. The priority placed on
mainstreaming climate adaptation within EPA complements efforts to encourage and mainstream
adaptation planning across the entire federal government.
Following completion of the draft Climate Change Adaptation Plan, each EPA National
Environmental Program Office, all 10 Regional Offices, and several National Support Offices
developed a Climate Adaptation Implementation Plan to provide more detail on how it will carry
out the work called for in the agency-wide plan. Each Implementation Plan articulates how the
office will integrate climate adaptation into its planning and work in a manner consistent and
compatible with its goals and objectives.
Taken together, the Implementation Plans demonstrate how the EPA will attain the 10 agency-
wide priorities presented in the Climate Change Adaptation Plan. A central element of all of EPA's
plans is to build and strengthen its adaptive capacity and work with its partners to build capacity
in states, tribes, and local communities. EPA will empower its staff and partners by increasing
their awareness of ways that climate change may affect their ability to implement effective
programs, and by providing them with the necessary data, information, and tools to integrate
climate adaptation into their work.
Each Program and Regional Office's Implementation Plan contains an initial assessment of the
implications of climate change for the organization's goals and objectives. These "program
vulnerability assessments" are living documents that will be updated as needed to account for
new knowledge, data, and scientific evidence about the impacts of climate change on EPA's
mission. The plan then identifies specific priority actions that the office will take to begin
addressing its vulnerabilities and mainstreaming climate change adaptation into its activities.
Criteria for the selection of priorities are discussed. An emphasis is placed on protecting the most
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vulnerable people and places, on supporting the development of adaptive capacity in the tribes,
and on identifying clear steps for ongoing collaboration with tribal governments.
Because EPA's Programs and Regions and partners will be learning by experience as they
mainstream climate adaptation planning into their activities, it will be essential to evaluate their
efforts in order to understand how well different approaches work and how they can be
improved. Each Implementation Plan therefore includes a discussion of how the organization will
regularly evaluate the effectiveness of its adaptation efforts and make adjustments where
necessary.
The set of Implementation Plans are a sign of EPA's leadership and commitment to help build the
nation's adaptive capacity that is so vital to the goal of protecting human health and the
environment. Working with its partners, the Agency will help promote a healthy and prosperous
nation that is resilient to a changing climate.
Bob Perciasepe
Deputy Administrator
September 2013
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ORD Climate Adaptation Implementation Plan June 2014
Contents
ORD Climate Adaptation Implementation Plan Team
Chapter 1. Introduction 1
The EPA Climate Change Adaptation Plan 1
ORD's Mission and Adapting to Climate Change 3
Relationship of climate adaptation to ORD's Research Programs 4
Components of the Implementation Plan 4
Chapter 2. Assessment of ORD Vulnerabilities and Challenges to Climate Change 5
Operational Vulnerabilities 5
Scientific Challenges 6
Understand partner needs and regional differences 6
Incorporate climate science, strengthen climate adaptation science, and develop cross-Agency
research priorities 9
Improve flexibility to address emerging and unexpected problems 9
Communicate climate, adaptation, and mitigation science 9
Chapter 3. ORD's Priority Actions for Climate Adaptation 10
Identify vulnerable research resources and develop response plans 10
Develop an approach to identify Agency-wide research priorities 10
Work with EPA partners to develop effective venues to communicate advances in climate impact
and adaptation research 10
Design extramural research efforts that appropriately incorporate climate change adaptation
questions and measures 11
Chapter 4. Measuring and Evaluating Performance 12
Agency science priorities 12
Incorporating climate adaptation into extramural research 12
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ORD Climate Adaptation Implementation Plan Team
C. Andrew Miller (Lead; Air, Climate, and Energy Research Program)
Peter Beedlow (National Health and Environmental Effects Laboratory)
Tim Benner (Office of Science Policy)
John Dawson (National Center for Environmental Research)
Andrew Gillespie (National Exposure Research Laboratory)
James Goodrich (National Risk Management Research Laboratory)
Anne Grambsch (National Center for Environmental Assessment)
Alan Lindquist (National Homeland Security Research Center)
Jennifer Scola (Office of Administrative and Research Support)
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Chapter 1. Introduction
As the climate changes, it affects the ability of EPA to achieve its basic mission to protect human health
and the environment. Many of the outcomes EPA is working to attain (e.g., clean air, safe drinking
water) are sensitive to changes in weather and climate. Until recently, EPA has been able to assume that
climate is relatively stable and future climate will mirror past climate. However, with climate changing
more rapidly than society has experienced in the past, the past is no longer a good predictor of the
future. Climate change is posing new challenges to EPA's ability to fulfill its mission.
To address these challenges, EPA developed its first Agency-wide plan for adapting to the changing
climate in 2012. EPA was one of over 60 federal agencies that were required to develop climate
adaptation plans under Executive Order 13514, signed by President Barack Obama in 2009.That order
required each federal agency to "evaluate agency climate-change risks and vulnerabilities to manage the
effects of climate change on the agency's operations and mission in both the short and long term...."1
On June 2, 2011, Administrator Lisa Jackson issued the "EPA Policy Statement on Climate-Change
Adaptation." The Policy Statement recognizes that climate change can pose significant challenges to
EPA's ability to fulfill its mission and calls for the Agency to anticipate and plan for future changes in
climate and incorporate considerations of climate change into its activities. The first action called out in
the Policy Statement is to "Develop and publish the EPA Climate-Change Adaptation Plan," which was
completed and submitted to the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) in late June 2012.
The EPA Climate Change Adaptation Plan
The EPA Climate Change Adaptation Plan is the first step in meeting the requirements of Executive
Order 13514 (Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance) to implement
climate change adaptation planning across the Agency. The Plan was developed by a cross-Agency
working group led by the Office of Policy and including each national program and regional office, and it
represents a true EPA-wide perspective on climate change adaptation, Agency vulnerabilities to climate
change, and priority actions needed to ensure that EPA and its partners at the tribal, state, and local
levels are able to fulfill EPA's mission to protect human health and the environment even as we face the
impacts of a changing climate.
The EPA Climate Change Adaptation Plan calls for each office to develop an office-specific plan for
implementing the priority actions as appropriate for that office. These implementation plans have been
developed in coordination across EPA to enable adequate flexibility to address the challenges and
situations faced by each office without losing the strength of collaboration to address common
vulnerabilities.
The Adaptation Plan outlines the known vulnerabilities of EPA carrying out its mission due to climate
change, identifies approaches to "mainstreaming" climate change adaptation in EPA through a series of
ten priority actions (see text box), and describes measures to evaluate performance.
1 Executive Order 13514, "Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance," October 5,
2009.
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2.
3.
Agency-wide Climate Change Adaptation Priorities
1. Fulfill Strategic Measures in FY 2011-2015 EPA
Strategic Plan
Protect Agency facilities and operations
Factor legal considerations into adaptation efforts
4. Strengthen adaptive capacity of EPA staff and
partners through training
5. Develop decision-support tools that enable EPA staff
and partners to integrate climate adaptation planning
into their work
6. Identify cross-EPA science needs related to climate
adaptation
7. Partner with tribes to increase adaptive capacity
8. Focus on most vulnerable people and places
9. Measure and evaluate performance
10. Develop program and regional office Implementation
Plans
Among the Agency priorities for
implementing measures to adapt to
climate change is partnering with
tribes. EPA works with federally
recognized tribes on a government-
to-government basis to protect the
land, air, and water in Indian
country.
Supporting the development of
adaptive capacity among tribes is a
priority for the EPA. Tribes are
particularly vulnerable to the
impacts of climate change due to
the integral nature of the
environment within their traditional
life ways and culture. There is a
strong need to develop adaptation
strategies that promote
sustainability and reduce the impact
of climate change on tribes and tribal lands.
EPA engaged tribes through a formal consultation process in the development of the Agency's Climate
Change Adaptation Plan. Tribes identified some of the most pressing issues as erosion, temperature
change, drought and various changes in access to and quality of water. Tribes recommended a number
of tools and strategies to address these issues, including improving access to data and information;
supporting baseline research to better track the effects of climate change; developing community-level
education and awareness materials; and providing financial and technical support. At the same time,
tribes challenged EPA to coordinate climate change activities among federal agencies so that resources
are better leveraged and administrative burdens are reduced.
This Implementation Plan identifies specific steps that will be taken to partner with tribes on an ongoing
basis to understand, increase, and address their adaptive capacity and adaptation-related priorities.
These collaborative efforts will benefit from the expertise provided by our tribal partners and Traditional
Ecological Knowledge (TEK). TEK can be a valuable body of knowledge in assessing the current and
future impacts of climate change and has been used by tribes to adapt to changing surroundings.
Consistent with the principles in the 1984 Indian Policy, TEK is viewed as a complementary resource that
can inform planning and decision-making.
Networks and partnerships already in place will be used to assist tribes with climate change issues,
including the National Tribal Caucus of EPA's National Tribal Operations Committee, Regional Tribal
Operations Committees, and EPA-tribal partnership groups. EPA can also use funding through the Indian
General Assistance Program (IGAP) to support climate change capacity-building efforts. Additionally,
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efforts will be made to coordinate with other regional and program offices in EPA, since climate change
has many impacts that transcend media and regional boundaries. Transparency and information sharing
will be a focus, in order to leverage activities already taking place within EPA offices and tribal
governments.
An additional priority for all regional and program offices is the need to focus on vulnerable populations
and locations. Certain parts of the population, such as children, the elderly, minorities, the poor, persons
with underlying medical conditions and disabilities, those with limited access to information, and tribal
and indigenous populations, can be especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Also, certain
geographic locations and communities are particularly vulnerable, such as those located in low-lying
coastal areas. One of the principles guiding EPA's efforts to integrate climate adaptation into its
programs, policies and rules calls for its adaptation plans to prioritize helping people, places and
infrastructure that are most vulnerable to climate impacts and to be designed and implemented with
meaningful involvement from all parts of society.
This Implementation Plan identifies key programmatic vulnerabilities and the priority actions that will be
taken to address those vulnerabilities over time. As the work called for in this Plan is conducted, the
communities and demographic groups most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change will be
identified. The Agency will then work in partnership with these communities to increase their adaptive
capacity and resilience to climate change impacts. These efforts will be informed by experiences with
previous extreme weather events (e.g., Hurricane Katrina and Superstore Sandy) and the subsequent
recovery efforts.
The Adaptation Plan also includes a list of comment areas of focus for the office-specific implementation
plans, which will be addressed in the text below. The EPA Adaptation Plan sets the stage for the
implementation plans for each office, including ORD.
ORD's Mission and Adapting to Climate Change
ORD's mission is to provide the solid underpinning of science and technology for the Agency. ORD has
been involved in climate change research for over 20 years, with a strong focus on conducting research
to inform the Agency regarding the impacts of climate change on air quality, water quality, and human
and ecosystem health. These efforts, at their core, have been designed to inform EPA's program and
regional offices as they set and implement policies that will remain effective in a changing climate.
The pace and scale at which climate impacts are occurring create a challenge for ORD by increasing the
rate at which new issues arise and new scientific and technical information is needed by the Agency.
The impacts of climate change are now illustrating the need to address impacts that the Agency is likely
to face in the future, while maintaining flexibility to respond to issues that may arise as climate change
impacts occur in unexpected ways.
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Relationship of climate adaptation to ORD's Research Programs
ORD's research must be conducted in the context of a changing climate. Such changes will occur across
all of ORD's research programs as we learn more about environmental conditions and as we respond to
EPA programs and regions and their needs to address those changing conditions.
The recent restructuring of ORD's research programs places ORD in a good position to effectively adapt
to climate change and maintain our ability to provide the scientific and technical information needed by
our program and regional office partners. The expanded and on-going interactions with our EPA
partners form a good foundation for understanding their concerns regarding climate adaptation and
enable us to communicate new research needs as they develop. The current program structure also
provides a strong means for developing research that cuts across the ORD research programs to bring to
bear the right mix of expertise needed to address issues identified by our partners.
Components of the Implementation Plan
This implementation plan has three main components: (1) an assessment of ORD's vulnerabilities to
climate change impacts; (2) priority actions for ORD to take to adapt to climate change and reduce its
vulnerabilities; and (3) a discussion of performance measures to be developed to evaluate progress
toward meeting key goals.
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Chapter 2. Assessment of ORD Vulnerabilities and Challenges to Climate
Change
In the context of the EPA Climate Change Adaptation Plan, ORD seeks to understand the climate-related
vulnerabilities and challenges to providing needed scientific and technical support to EPA's program and
regional offices, and how to adapt to those vulnerabilities and challenges. EPA's program and regional
offices have developed initial vulnerability assessments of their programs to climate change, which will
inform ORD's vulnerabilities. ORD's vulnerabilities refer to the degree to which ORD's capacity to carry
out its mission is susceptible to the impacts of climate change, including climate variability and
extremes. These could include damage or limited access to facilities, worker safety or security, or lack of
fundamental resources such as water or energy. To effectively
support the EPA programs and regions, climate change
presents ORD with numerous challenges that do not pose
physical, climate-related constraints on our ability to conduct
and deliver research, but could require changes in our
research portfolio to address climate change impacts,
compared to what we would have done in the absence of
those impacts. ORD's challenge is to be flexible and
responsive to the changing science needs of our EPA partners
as they work to maintain and improve environmental
protection in the face of a changing climate.
Vulnerabilities refer to the degree to
which ORD's capacity to carry out its
mission is susceptible to the impacts
of climate change, including climate
variability and extremes.
Challenges do not pose physical,
climate-related constraints on our
ability to conduct and deliver
research, but could require changes
in our research portfolio to address
climate change impacts.
Operational Vulnerabilities
OARM has primary responsibility for operation and maintenance of the research facilities used by ORD,
including addressing the vulnerability of these facilities to the impacts of climate change. The key
operational vulnerabilities are listed in Table 1 below (with OARM's assessment of the level of
vulnerability). Given ORD's knowledge of these facilities, ORD staff will work collaboratively with OARM
to identify potential problems and develop proactive adaptation measures for facilities and those who
use them. Even though OARM has primary responsibility for facility protection and response, ORD will
carry significant responsibility for unique research equipment, continuity of experiments, archived
samples, and historical data within those facilities which may be vulnerable to climate change impacts.
Coordination between on-site ORD staff and OARM will substantially improve the evaluation of
vulnerabilities, particularly climate-related environmental changes such as temperature and extreme
precipitation events, and the possible approaches to mitigate them.
ORD will also have responsibility for those systems that may be vulnerable to the impacts of climate
change, such as field sampling systems, that do not fall under the heading of "facility." Such systems
may be vulnerable to temperature or precipitation extremes or other climate-associated impacts.
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Table 1. Key operational vulnerabilities posed by climate change
Area of Vulnerability
Energy Security
Water Quality and Supply
Severe Weather or Flooding Damage
Safety of Field Workers
Security Operations, Emergency Communications
Personal Property
Real Property
Shift in Emergency Response Personnel
Continuity of Operations Plan (includes training of
essential personnel)
OARM Estimated Level of Vulnerability
High
High
Medium (Will vary with location. Gulf Breeze,
Edison, and Narragansett are likely to face higher
levels of vulnerability to severe weather and
flooding than other ORD locations.)
Medium
Medium
Low
Low
Low
Low
Scientific Challenges
Understand partner needs and regional differences
The scientific challenges, to a large degree, have been well communicated to ORD, partly as a
consequence of the increasing interactions with EPA program and regional offices during the
development of ORD's program-focused research portfolios. A primary focus of the consolidation of
ORD's research into six national research programs has been to expand the opportunities for program
and regional offices to identify their needs for scientific and technical information and support, which is
then incorporated into the development of ORD's research agenda. Such interactions are not new in the
area of climate change and adaptation - discussions to identify partner office needs related to climate
adaptation have long been a core component of ORD's Global Change Research Program (now part of
the Air, Climate, and Energy Research Program) and the Water Quality and Drinking Water research
programs (now incorporated into the Safe and Sustainable Water Research Program).
The climate adaptation research needs identified in past and current discussions are consistent with the
vulnerabilities to EPA's mission identified by EPA's program and regional offices in the development of
their Adaptation Implementation Plans. The on-going interactions between ORD and the program and
regional offices have provided ORD with a head start toward meeting the scientific challenges posed by
our partners' programmatic vulnerabilities. Examples of research results that address vulnerabilities to
climate change include the assessment of air quality impacts associated with climate change2 and
development and release of scenarios for land use change under different possible future conditions,
including climate change.3
Assessment of the Impacts of Global Change on Regional U.S. Air Quality: A Synthesis of Climate Change
Impacts on Ground-Level Ozone, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-07/094F,
2009.
3ICLUS Tools and Datasets. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-09/143F, 2010.
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The key programmatic vulnerabilities identified by the program and regional offices are listed below in
Table 2, with the understanding that this list will very likely change as EPA's adaptation planning efforts
progress and our understanding of the science of climate change and its impacts expands.
Given the dynamic nature of the scientific needs across the Agency, one of ORD's challenges will be to
develop the flexibility to respond quickly to emerging adaptation issues that may not now be seen as
priorities.
Table 2. Key programmatic vulnerabilities identified by program and regional offices, with ORD
capacity to provide relevant information related to those vulnerabilities. The order of
the list does not necessarily reflect the program or regional office priority.
Programmatic adaptation vulnerabilities that may pose scientific
challenges
Tropospheric ozone (OAR Tier lc)
Particulate matter (OAR Tier II)
Indoor air quality (OAR Tier 1)
Biogeochemical Cycling (Tier III)
Impact of more intense extreme weather events on OAR disaster
response planning (potential)
Environmental justice implications (potential)
Stratospheric Ozone (Tier II)
Effect on energy efficiency programs of climate-driven changes in
energy demand and supply (potential)
Changes in chemical use patterns (fracking, oil spill dispersants,
water purification and desalinization, wastewater treatment or
antimicrobial and disease prevention)
Changing weather trends (including weather extremes) in pesticide
exposure models and tools
Increased demand for climate adaptation information applicable to
developing countries that are at greatest risk for climate-related
disasters; technical support is likely to be needed for both rural
areas and urban centers
Programmatic adaptation vulnerabilities that may pose scientific
challenges
Increased vulnerability to diseases (waste disposal, clean water,
changing disease geographies)
Invasive species and ocean acidification
International risk assessment, including SLR, weather extremes,
cookstoves, glaciers and snow cover, clean water supply
Arctic Council participation
Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK)
Primary
Office3
OAR
OCSPP
OITA
Primary
Office3
OITA
Current ORD
capacity13
High
High
Medium
Medium
(nutrients),
Low (carbon
and water)
Medium
Medium
Low
Low
High
Low
High
Current ORD
capacity13
High
Medium
Medium
Medium
Low
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Impacts to cultural resources, including traditional food resources
(fishing, hunting)
Arctic impacts (loss of sea ice and potential village abandonment,
mobilization of POPs)
Low
Low
Transport of hazardous substances due to flooding from more
intense and frequent storm events
Changes in groundwater processes and impact to hydrogeological
remediation
Change in liner permeability due to saltwater intrusion and
increased groundwater salinity in coastal aquifers
Temperature-driven changes in contaminant volatility
Impacts to phytoremediation and ecological revitalization due to
changes in plant growth
Inundation and vulnerability to storm surge
Potential need for increased emergency preparedness due to
impacts from severe weather events
Drying of the landscape
Contamination risk due to melting of permafrost
OSWER
High
High
High
High
Medium
Medium
Medium
Low
Low
Air and water temperature increases
Storm intensity (impacts to stormwater infrastructure)
Rainfall/snowfall levels and distribution
Sea level rise
Changes in energy generation
Coastal/ocean characteristics
OW
High
High
Medium
Medium
Medium
Low
a. Regional offices are not listed separately. The issues identified by the program offices are repeated in regional
office vulnerability assessments as appropriate to regional needs.
b. ORD Capacity refers to the internal expertise and facilities available to ORD to conduct research in the specific
area.
c. OAR described vulnerabilities in terms of tiers according to their estimate of scientific understanding. Tier I:
impact is well established in the literature and has clear implications for the Program's success; Tier II: impacts
are being or have been explored by the research community, but significant uncertainties remain; Tier III: the
literature is evolving and program implications are uncertain
Although the purpose of this plan is to ensure that EPA is able to carry out its mission as the climate
changes, the broader and longer-term need is to ensure that the nation is able to adapt to the impacts
of climate change. While this broader scope is closely related to the vulnerabilities identified by EPA's
program and regional offices, ORD must also remain cognizant of the adaptation needs of various
external partners in local, state, and tribal governments; other federal agencies; international
institutions; industries; the research community; and, the public at large. Many of the issues identified in
this section are applicable to this broader set of partners and will require their active participation. This
broader scope will also require incorporation of research results developed by other science partners in
the US Global Change Research Program, the academic community, industry, and research carried out at
the tribal, state, and local levels.
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Incorporate climate science, strengthen climate adaptation science, and develop cross-Agency
research priorities
The issues listed above highlight the need to continue to develop the scientific and technical information
to support adaptation. This will require an on-going effort to incorporate the latest understanding of
climate science into the development of ORD's research planning to ensure that the adaptation research
efforts are focused on understanding how to adapt to conditions that are likely to be experienced in the
future. It will also require that ORD conduct research, incorporate the results of others, and work with
others to identify the issues that are likely to pose the most serious threats to human health and the
environment and to the Agency's ability to continue to protect them. This will require that ORD work
with EPA program and regional offices to identify Agency-wide research priorities, as opposed to a set of
office-specific priorities. The existing ORD programmatic structure and the EPA Adaptation Working
Group provide the means through which such priorities can be developed. Even so, further discussions
will be needed to clearly define the approach needed to identify priorities that cut across partner and
ORD program boundaries.
Improve flexibility to address emerging and unexpected problems
There are likely to be issues related to climate impacts and adaptation that arise more rapidly than the
normal planning cycle, and which may require relatively rapid response from ORD. Where the
magnitude of such issues is significant enough, it may be necessary to divert resources (whether staff or
funds) to address the emerging or unexpected problem. More generally, however, ORD will need to
continue its close interactions with program and regional partners to ensure close communication is
maintained so that such issues are quickly identified in the context of the Agency's needs. In addition,
ORD will need to continue to provide expert perspectives on emerging issues. This requires that ORD
continue development of the staff's scientific and technical capabilities across a broad spectrum of
climate-related topics.
Communicate climate, adaptation, and mitigation science
One need that has been identified by program and regional office partners is to develop the ability to
communicate current, relevant scientific information about climate change across EPA. For example,
given the rapidly growing volume of research on climate change, its impacts, and responses, one of
ORD's challenges related to climate adaptation will be to effectively identify and communicate key
scientific results that impact EPA's ability to effectively adapt to climate change and support climate
change adaptation across the country. The critical need for such information has been identified as a
priority by the U.S. Global Change Research Program. This interagency group is in the process of
developing a Global Change Information System (GCIS), which is intended to provide a single source of
up-to-date information on science and technology related to climate change, climate impacts and
adaptation, and mitigation.
Even with the development and deployment of the GCIS, communications across all EPA offices on
climate science issues needs to be enhanced to ensure quick and effective sharing of key information,
identification of science needs, and understanding of stakeholder perspectives and needs. To the extent
that new databases or information systems are needed, ORD will need to remain closely involved in how
such approaches are developed and implemented.
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Chapter 3. ORD's Priority Actions for Climate Adaptation
ORD's priority actions are derived from the vulnerabilities and challenges discussed in the previous
section and, to a significant extent, from the Agency-level adaptation priorities presented above. ORD
has already made considerable progress toward meeting many of the key adaptation priorities identified
in EPA's 2012 Climate Change Adaptation Plan. Although many of these priorities have been an integral
part of our research planning, conduct, and communication for the past several years, there are still
opportunities for developing a more explicit and robust response to the impacts of climate change, as
outlined in the priority actions below.
Identify vulnerable research resources and develop response plans
ORD makes use of various research resources to accomplish its mission, e.g. laboratories, pilot-scale
equipment, measurement instruments, and animal care facilities. The first priority action is to assess the
potential vulnerabilities of ORD research systems to the impacts of climate change and to develop
approaches, in collaboration with OARM, to minimize those and other facilities vulnerabilities. For
example, it will be critical to ORD's delivery of high quality research and data-in the face of extreme
temperatures and precipitation events as a result of climate change-to maintain continuity of
measurements and experiments, and protect archived samples, data repositories, and monitoring
networks that may be located at sites remote from ORD facilities. A "self-assessment" of the
vulnerabilities of ORD research resources can result in adaptation approaches that are designed to
protect not only the facilities themselves, but also the research capabilities associated with the facility
and its integrated research systems.
Develop an approach to identify Agency-wide research priorities
Because of the broad implications of climate change, there is a need to "identify cross-EPA science
needs related to climate adaptation." Therefore, an ORD priority action is to coordinate discussions
between ORD's Deputy Associate Administrator for Science and National Research Program Directors
and cross-agency program and regional management to identify and incorporate input on climate
adaptation research priorities.
Work with EPA partners to develop effective venues to communicate advances
in climate impact and adaptation research
It will be important to effectively identify and communicate advances in the science of climate change
and adaptation. One of ORD's priority actions is to play a key role in developing approaches to
consolidating and communicating climate change and adaptation research, particularly by engaging at
the interagency level, such as with the development of the Global Change Information System by the
U.S. Global Change Research Program.
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Design extramural research efforts that appropriately incorporate climate
change adaptation questions and measures
In October 2011, the Office of Policy and the Office of Grants and Debarment sent a memo4 to Senior
Resource Officials across the agency directing them to incorporate criteria for climate change
adaptation into the grant development process. ORD's National Center for Environmental Research
(NCER) has already made this directive a standard component of their process for developing requests
for application (RFAs).
ORD will consider how to incorporate criteria for climate adaptation into other major financial
mechanisms.
4 "Incorporating Climate Change Adaptation Considerations into Applicable Assistance Agreement Competitive
Funding Opportunity Announcements," Memo from J.D. Scheraga and B.S. Binder to Grants Customer Relations
Council and Agency Senior Resource Officials, October 18, 2011.
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Chapter 4. Measuring and Evaluating Performance
ORD's performance in effectively adapting to climate change should consider two primary areas: (1)
identifying Agency-wide research priorities for climate adaptation and (2) incorporating climate change
into extramural research efforts.
Agency science priorities
Priority 3.3.6 of the EPA Climate Change Adaptation Plan is to "identify cross-EPA science needs related
to climate adaptation/' which is one of ORD's Priority Actions for climate adaptation discussed above.
Performance will be evaluated and measured by degree of participation from each affected EPA office,
identification of cross-agency priorities in a timely manner, and dissemination of consensus priorities.
ORD will also continue its efforts to develop decision support tools useful to decision makers at federal,
state, and local levels.
Incorporating climate adaptation into extramural research
ORD is already incorporating climate adaptation as a required factor for consideration by extramural
research grant applicants if appropriate. One possible metric of evaluation could be to quantify the
number of requests for applications (RFAs) that include climate adaptation as a review criterion, or to
demonstrate consistent use of climate adaptation review criteria for appropriate solicitations.
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