Climate change is a global crisis. As temperatures and sea levels rise, people around the world are increasingly seeing heat waves, droughts, floods, cyclones, and wildfires upend their lives. The effects of climate change are not equal – they disproportionately impact the poorest and most marginalized communities USAID works to support every day. Climate change affects virtually everything that USAID does and threatens the development progress it has supported over more than 60 years.
With the next decade being decisive for the planet, USAID’s Climate Strategy takes a whole-of-agency approach to improve the climate resilience of 500 million people by 2030. This new Strategy takes a “whole-of-Agency” approach that calls on all corners of USAID to play a part in the response. USAID will work on the ground with partner governments and local actors to set the global trajectory toward a vision of a resilient, prosperous, and equitable world with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.
To improve the effectiveness and sustainability of development efforts, national governments anticipate and adapt to expected changes in their development investments, and donors such as USAID practice climate risk management, whereby they systematically assess, address, and adaptively manage program risks for present and future climate conditions. Well-designed and accessible climate information services, tools, and resources are essential to prepare for and adapt to change. A well organized, forward-looking response by governments and the private sector, awareness and understanding of how best to adapt, and access to the necessary resources to take adaptive measures are all important building blocks to successful climate adaptation.
Sound land management and advanced energy solutions represent long-term solutions to climate change, while promoting economic growth and livelihoods here and now. These pathways help countries meet their targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions. Forest and soil conservation, management, and restoration are nature-based solutions that reduce land-based emissions, the source of approximately one-quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions. Cost-effective renewable energy and energy efficiency improvements present opportunities for addressing the largest global source of emissions while building clean, reliable energy sectors that can grow economies, secure cleaner air and greater environmental sustainability, and support developing country partners.