7.4 Planning for Climate Change: How Extreme Weather and Climate Variability Are Influencing Remediation and Sustainable Development

Climatic shifts create the potential for more frequent and stronger storms, greater natural variability in site conditions, and increasing risks to the built environment and operations. Climate considerations touch all aspects of environmental planning and design. Utilities are incorporating climate resilience in their long-term plans to provide reliable service, developers are designing buildings to be more resilient, and companies across sectors are accouting for shifting environmental conditions in remediation and compliance strategies. Speakers will share real world experiences on climate considerations in coal generation retirements and replacement capacity, sustainable development, hurricane planning and response, and how to account for dynamic site conditions driven by climatic events.  Assessing site risks associated with a changing climate includes modeling these changes across a range of remedial approaches, applying sustainability principles to best management practices, and optimizing environmental and social benefits.