US announces $2.5 billion for climate resilience programmes

RICHMOND, Virginia – The US government said on Thursday the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) will make US$1.8 billion (S$2.5 billion) of new money available through two programmes intended to boost resilience to climate-related disasters before they happen.

The funding comes as climate change drives more intense storms, flooding and wildfires across the United States, where in 2023 there have already been at least 24 weather or climate events that

resulted in losses of more than US$1 billion each,

according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The two programmes Fema is funding are Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (Bric), which backs projects providing protection from the effects of climate change and the Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) programme, which targets projects that cut flood risk.

Ms Victoria Salinas, head of resilience at Fema, said while the agency was associated with emergency response and recovery, it also focused on mitigation to lessen the impact of disasters.

US President Joe Biden’s administration has “really been focused on pulling resilience out of the shadows of response and recovery”, Ms Salinas told Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview.

In the latest round of project funding, the Bric annual grant programme is making US$1 billion available, while the FMA programme US$800 million, with applications open until February 2024.

Resilience funding has expanded since the US administration’s 2021 infrastructure law.

In August, Fema announced selections as part of a nearly US$3 billion pool of funding for resilience projects across the country, including upgrading water pipelines and stabilising creek banks.

The programmes allocate money ahead of time to help communities prepare for future climate-related impacts, rather than mobilising after disaster has struck.

“We know it’s the best use of taxpayer money to fund projects that mitigate risk,” said Dr Kristin Smith of Headwaters Economics, a non-profit research group.

Grants aim to target underserved communities

Fema aims to help underserved areas access Bric funds by providing technical assistance and taking on a greater share of the cost.

But the vast majority of Bric funding for 2022 went to East and West Coast states, and half the states collectively received less than 5 per cent of the funds, according to analysis by Headwaters Economics.

The challenges underscore a major difficulty with climate financing at the global level – how to best steer funds towards communities most affected by the climate crisis and that are frequently the least equipped to access the cash.

“A big competitive grant (programme) like Bric is going to work really well for the New York Citys, the San Franciscos. And it’s probably just not going to work that well for rural communities,” Dr Smith said.

Fema said selections announced earlier in 2023 included projects in 23 states that had not previously received competitive Bric funding.

Certain grant funding through the programme is set aside for US states, tribes and territories, while funds for large projects are made available through a national competition.

Ms Salinas said the agency was taking other steps like streamlining the process for cost-benefit analyses, as well as helping steer funding for capacity-building in areas most at risk from natural hazards and climate change.

“We’ve heard from so many states that they want to support their most underserved communities, to build their capacity, develop a great pipeline of projects,” she added.

Fema’s disaster relief funding levels reached such a low level over 2023 that the agency had to hold off on certain non-immediate needs projects, though the stopgap government funding bill in September has provided a bit of breathing room.

“We want our programmes like Bric and FMA to be the go-to investment tools for adaptation and resilience building in this nation,” Ms Salinas said. REUTERS