Earlier in 2022, Florida International University (FIU) announced its renewed commitment to environmental resilience and work with the community to restore and maintain the Everglades.
According to FIU, per Nature Index rankings, millions of dollars in funded research for work related to coral reef and shark protection around the world, Florida Everglades restoration, and Biscayne Bay recovery have pushed FIU’s earth and environmental sciences researchers to No. 1 in the U.S. among universities less than 50 years old, No. 23 in that category globally.
In the past decade, there’s been a total of $400 million in research awards for environmental resilience. More than 3,000 students have enrolled in programs related to environmental resilience, and 200+ faculty members engaged in environmental resilience research and teaching. In addition, there were 200+ local, state, national and international collaborations around the environment.
FIU is No. 11 in the world for impact on Life Below Water by Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, No. 28 in the world for impact on Life on Land by Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, and No. 37 among public universities for Environment & Ecology by U.S. News & World Report subject rankings/
At the 27th U.N. Climate Conference (COP27), President Biden announced new initiatives to strengthen U.S. leadership in tackling the climate crisis.
The initiatives included engaging all of society in tackling the climate crisis, an Indigenous Peoples Finance Access Facility, and new exchanges to empower youth to be leaders in resilience and clean energy in their communities.
The list also included advancing island-led resilience through engagement and technical support, which includes 20 island economies representing diverse geographical regions, with the largest concentration of members currently in the Pacific and Caribbean; supporting storm surge mapping.
Starting with the Federated States of Micronesia, NOAA and USAID will develop storm surge risk maps to improve understanding of storm surge flooding vulnerability from landfalling tropical cyclones, providing critical information to save lives and avoid climate impacts.
A new proposal also includes a “Super-Emitter Response Program” that would require operators to respond to credible third-party reports of high-volume methane leaks. Biden unveiled an updated plan showcasing enhanced ambition and progress to achieve deep methane reductions in the United States, while cutting consumer costs, spurring job creation, and securing economic gains. The plan includes more than $20 billion of new investments to reduce methane emissions at home.
USDA intends to create an International Climate Hub to further support global science-based, climate-informed decision-making. USDA Climate Hubs serve as the premier model for developing and delivering science-based, region-specific information and technologies to U.S. agricultural and natural resource managers that enable climate-informed decision-making.
By creating a new International Climate Hub, USDA will help support goals set out in PREPARE, the Global Methane Pledge, and the Global Fertilizer Challenge. By sharing the best practices and research on climate-smart agriculture and forestry, including those gained from international coalitions and research consortia, we can help address climate change on a global scale, build out new and better markets for U.S. products and make agriculture production more efficient and productive everywhere.
The U.S. State Department and Bloomberg Philanthropies are supporting a first-of-its-kind initiative, the Subnational Climate Action Leaders Exchange (SCALE), to help cities, states, and regions develop and implement net-zero, climate-resilient targets and roadmaps.
SCALE will empower subnational champions to drive ambition at the national and international levels and will leverage action and advocacy organized around a set of high-level goals needed to keep a 1.5-aligned, climate-resilient future within reach. In its first phase, SCALE will focus on accelerating the implementation of the Global Methane Pledge and its call for a 30 percent reduction in methane emissions by 2030.
Launching the Net-Zero Game Changers Initiative, this initiative accelerates game-changing climate innovations and supercharges the public and private climate innovation ecosystem to help the United States meet President Biden’s goal of reaching net-zero emissions by no later than 2050.
To launch the initiative, the White House Climate Policy Office, Office of Management and Budget, and Office of Science and Technology Policy released a new report, U.S. Innovation to Meet 2050 Climate Goals, which describes 37 game-changing R&D opportunities identified across U.S. Federal agencies. With inclusive and intentional innovation, these innovations can help propel the United States and the rest of the world toward an affordable, equitable, net-zero energy system.
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