Climate Change Adaptation - New Jersey
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Climate Change History
In 2009, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection produced, “Meeting New Jersey’s 2020 Greenhouse Gas Limit: New Jersey’s Global Warming Response Act Recommendations Report,” pursuant to statutory language in the New Jersey Global Warming Response Act of 2007. The act commits New Jersey to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. While largely focused on greenhouse gas reductions (mitigation), the report does include a section on adaptation to climate change effects generally.
As part of the State’s commitment to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), New Jersey committed 10% of its carbon credit auction proceeds to stewardship and restoration of forests and tidal marshes.
Current & Future Action
The NJDEP Coastal Management Office has developed a draft vulnerability mapping index that integrates the various biophysical and socioeconomic factors that contribute toward aggregate natural hazard risk along the state's wetlands-dominated Delaware Bay region. The vulnerability assessment is currently being evaluated in various pilot communities throughout the Delaware Bay in order to enhance its effective application at the regional scale in Delaware Bay, as well as its applicability to other portions of New Jersey's coastal area in the future.
Pilot Programs/Current Studies
The state does not, as yet, have any specific pilots or case studies dealing with wetlands and climate change.
For More Information
New Jersey maintains a climate change website at: http://www.state.nj.us/globalwarming/index.shtml
The “Meeting New Jersey’s 2020 Greenhouse Gas Limit” report is available from: http://www.nj.gov/dep/oce/njgrwa_final_report_and_appendices_dec2009.pdf
Contact Marjorie Kaplan, Manager, NJDEP Office of Climate & Energy (OCE) at Marjorie.Kaplan@dep.state.nj.us.