Resilient and Ready Anne Arundel to become the region's first integrated portfolio of projects and actions aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and accelerating the transition to renewable energy
Annapolis, MD - Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman and City of Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley today announced that they will partner with the Resilience Authority of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County (Resilience Authority) to develop “Resilient and Ready Anne Arundel” - the region’s first integrated portfolio of projects and actions aimed at mitigating the impacts of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and accelerating the transition to reliable and affordable renewable energy in the area.
“When we made the decision to create the Resilience Authority, some folks had trouble understanding what it would be capable of doing," said County Executive Steuart Pittman. “Resilient and Ready Anne Arundel is the answer. It’s specific projects that protect public infrastructure, private infrastructure, forests, and quality farmland from the impacts of climate change.”
Leveraging studies and initiatives already underway across the region, the Resilience Authority will work with experts in County and City agencies as well as nongovernmental partners to identify and develop a plan and portfolio of the most impactful projects to support flood control, ecosystem resilience, shoreline protection, structural resilience, energy resilience, and other community-based projects.
“Given the dynamic nature of resilience and climate mitigation, Resilient and Ready Anne Arundel will provide a framework for continually prioritizing projects with the most impact for the region,” said City of Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley. “The scale of action needed to address climate impacts is unprecedented, requiring extraordinary efficiency in capital deployment and the opportunity to maximize co-benefits with every dollar”.
Similar to the process used in the Gulf Coast that guides investment in the design, implementation, and operation of large-scale restoration and risk reduction projects, Resilient and Ready Anne Arundel will help assess, plan, prioritize, and implement resilience projects. The planning framework will provide a risk-informed, phased approach to identify and prioritize investments for resilience projects and foster partnership opportunities.
“A comprehensive framework will be used to evaluate the potential benefits and costs of proposed projects under multiple future climate change scenarios, and thus facilitate identification of highest-priority projects,” said the Director of the Resilience Authority Matt Fleming. “Identifying local infrastructure projects that will generate the greatest impact and seeking funding to supplement current funding, the goal is to accelerate the process of making the region stronger and more adaptable to climate change”.
“The Resilience Authority was established to make the process of planning, funding, and completing resiliency projects quicker and more efficient,” said Teresa Sutherland, Chair of the Resilience Authority Board of Directors. “Resilient and Ready Anne Arundel is the next step in helping the City and the County deal with the long-term impacts to our local infrastructure.”
The Resilience Authority was formed through legislative statute in 2021 to become the country’s first multi-jurisdictional climate resilience authority. Charged with identifying and financing projects to support regional resilience efforts, the organization supports infrastructure projects that directly mitigate climate threats including sea level-rise, storm events, and excessive heat.
