How can cities budget for climate resilience amid decreasing federal aid?

Cities are Facing Extreme Weather and Climate Change Challenges, Claims National Panel Discussion

A national panel discussion, hosted by the School of Climate, Environment, and Society, recently highlighted the struggles cities face due to extreme weather and changing climate conditions. Spearheaded by Geography Professor Mark Davidson from Clark’s School of Climate, Environment, and Society, the panel highlighted the fiscal challenges cities are facing due to climate change.

Davidson, whose expertise lies in municipal budgeting and fiscal health of cities, has been studying the impact of shifting economic, demographic, and political realities on cities for more than two decades. Having worked in international finance in London and earned a Ph.D. from King’s College, Davidson has witnessed the housing crisis and wealth disparities of the 2000s first-hand.

He started focusing on U.S. cities since joining Clark in 2010. His research includes studying U.S. “donut cities” like San Francisco and San José; cities which have seen their downtowns hollowed out due to the global pandemic, rising homelessness, and business shutdowns. His studies also delve into the gentrification of cities like Detroit and Worcester, Massachusetts, and Chapter 9 bankruptcies faced by municipalities post the 2008 Great Recession. Davidson’s research also covers local government’s response to growing public pension liabilities.

However, according to Davidson, climate change imposes another layer of unpredictable and intimidating fiscal pressure on top of these existing obligations.

Davidson, currently working on a book project titled “Red Ink Urbanism” (University of Minnesota Press), says, “When I look at the obligations that cities have — the bonds they have outstanding, the pension promises they’ve made, the OPEBs [other post-employment benefits] that they carry, the deferred maintenance, there’s a big debt stack there.” He further adds, “And climate is on top of that.”

The panel discussion, titled “The Resilience Imperative: How Cities Can Survive, and Thrive, in an Era of Extreme Weather,” featured government and nonprofit leaders discussing how urban areas across the U.S. are bolstering their climate resilience. The panelists included Melissa Hoffer, Massachusetts’ first chief climate officer; Patricia Lock Dawson, mayor of Riverside, California; and Saharnaz Mirzazad, CEO of ICLEI, a global network dedicated to sustainable urban development.

Davidson pointed out that it is difficult for financially constrained cities to manage the persistent issue of climate risk using short-term federal funds, such as the nearly $400 billion in investments granted through the Biden administration’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) or disaster aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

“I don’t think cities lack an awareness of climate risk,” said Davidson, adding that what they lack is “durable capacity”. He suggested that innovation can help cities address climate change to a significant extent.

Davidson’s assertion is that the most successful local governments are those that incorporate climate resilience into their fiscal planning and everyday decision-making processes. He cites an oft-mentioned statistic from FEMA that for every dollar spent on hazard mitigation, future costs are reduced by $6. This figure was reported in a 2018 study by the National Institute of Building Sciences.

Partnerships with universities like Clark, community organizations, and other entities are being harnessed by cities to enhance their climate resilience capacities. The panelists shared examples of how cities and states are implementing innovative methods to strengthen their climate resilience.

In Riverside, California, the city has launched initiatives to help residents during extreme weather conditions. According to Mayor Lock Dawson, the city has launched Ready Riverside, an educational campaign that helps residents stay safe during emergencies like heatwaves and wildfires. She also mentioned that they hosted an Extreme Heat Summit and simulated emergency planning session and have initiated a “tree plotter” program, which enables residents to identify areas that could benefit from shade trees.

Lock Dawson further emphasized that climate resilience can benefit the city’s economy. She stated that it’s wrong to think that what is good for the environment is bad for the economy and vice versa.

In Massachusetts, Hoffer reported that the administration has identified investments worth $90 billion to $130 billion to tackle issues related to extreme climate. These investments aim to improve existing infrastructure and maintain natural carbon sinks to prevent flooding. The administration has also created the Massachusetts Community Climate Bank, which is working towards preserving and retrofitting affordable housing for energy efficiency.

Residents can also avail low-interest loans from the Community Climate Bank to fortify or replace their roofs, install solar panels, and add energy-efficient heat pumps.

According to Hoffer, the state is also partnering with cities and universities such as Clark’s School of Climate, Environment, and Society. For instance, Worcester received a $400,000 municipal grant to create climate-resilient Miyawaki forests, and Geography Professor John Rogan and his students at Clark helped plant two forests in 2025.

Hoffer praised Clark’s Human-Environment Regional Observatory (HERO) program, led by Rogan and urban geography Professor Deborah Martin. The HERO program has been working with the state Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Greening the Gateway Cities program to mitigate the effects of urban “heat islands” in historic industrial cities over the past decade.

ICLEI USA has also been working with cities like Boynton Beach, Florida, and Pittsburgh to plant trees as a natural solution to heatwave emergencies. Nevertheless, there is little funding to tackle these emergencies, acknowledged Saharnaz Mirzazad, CEO of ICLEI. She pointed out that, “FEMA funding and, frankly, any federal funding, is stretched thin. And in many cases heat resilience is not even treated as an emergency.”

Mirzazad said local governments are forming “cross-sector tables … on decision-making and bringing the private sector into the room.” Hoffer reiterated the lack of funding, stating “There will never be enough public dollars.”

The panel discussion was moderated by Megan Houston, director of external partnerships and experiential learning for the School of Climate, Environment, and Society, who has led climate resilience and sustainability initiatives across the local government and nonprofit sectors for 15 years.