Climate Impacts

Climate change increases risks to our economy, health, infrastructure, food and water, and almost every facet of life and governance. The prevalence and severity of storms and wildfires; the loss of landmass and flooding of homes; forced migration; and the decimation of crops and natural wonders that have stood for years are accelerating due to climate change. The Center for American Progress diligently seeks to provide a spotlight on the costs of human-caused climate change and the strategies to mitigate climate impacts in the future.

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Communities of Color Bear the Brunt of Trump’s Anti-Environmental Agenda Article
A neighborhood sits in front of the Edgar Thomson Steel Works mill in Braddock, Pennsylvania, January 2020. (Getty/Brendan Smialowski/AFP)

Communities of Color Bear the Brunt of Trump’s Anti-Environmental Agenda

By weakening air and water protections and refusing to address climate change, the Trump administration is exacerbating environmental and health hazards in communities of color.

Amy Patronella, Saharra Griffin

Climate Change Is Altering Migration Patterns Regionally and Globally Article
Children carry bottles of water near Los Laureles reservoir, close to the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, during a drought caused by climate change. (Getty/Orlando Sierra/AFP)

Climate Change Is Altering Migration Patterns Regionally and Globally

Climate change is contributing to crop failure and malnutrition in the Northern Triangle and beyond, driving migration and raising the need for global and regional solutions.

Jayla Lundstrom

Serving the Hardest Hit Report
People with disabilities wait for assistance after being rescued from their nursing home, which was inundated by high water from Hurricane Katrina, August 2005, in New Orleans. (Getty/Mario Tama)

Serving the Hardest Hit

As extreme weather events increase in frequency and intensity, local and federal leaders must ensure that people with disabilities are central to all emergency preparedness, response, and recovery efforts.

Rejane Frederick, Rebecca Cokley, Hannah Leibson, 1 More Eliza Schultz

America’s Sordid Legacy on Race and Disaster Recovery Article
A mother holds her baby as her husband works to reconstruct their home destroyed by Hurricane Maria in San Isidro, Puerto Rico, on December 23, 2017. (Mario Tama/Getty)

America’s Sordid Legacy on Race and Disaster Recovery

The United States has a failing record on responsiveness to communities of color following natural disasters—a record that has only worsened under the Trump administration.

Connor Maxwell

Social Equity Key to Southeast Florida RCAP 2.0 Fact Sheet

Social Equity Key to Southeast Florida RCAP 2.0

The Southeast Florida Regional Climate Action Plan 2.0 is a tool for local leaders to reduce climate change threats while tackling inequities that affect low-income areas and communities of color.

Interactive: $1 Billion U.S. Extreme Storm Disasters, 2011–2017 Interactive

Interactive: $1 Billion U.S. Extreme Storm Disasters, 2011–2017

This interactive map provides county-by-county information on billion-dollar extreme weather events and household median income.

Miranda Peterson, Howard Marano, Kristina Costa

Extreme Weather, Extreme Costs Report

Extreme Weather, Extreme Costs

An analysis of extreme storms from 2011 through 2017 finds that these events disproportionately harm low- and middle-income Americans.

Kristina Costa, Miranda Peterson, Howard Marano

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Related Priorities

Tackling Climate Change and Environmental Injustice

Tackling Climate Change and Environmental Injustice

We pursue climate action that meets the crisis’s urgency, creates good-quality jobs, benefits disadvantaged communities, and restores U.S. credibility on the global stage.

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