Resilience and regeneration
Climate Resilience can be defined as increasing the ability to survive disruption and to anticipate, adapt, and flourish in the face of climate change.
As climate change accelerates globally and locally, Arizona State University will need to be resilient to a variety of climate impacts, including:
- Changing precipitation patterns and drought.
- Flooding.
- Increasing heat and urban heat island effect.
In 2016, President Crow signed the Second Nature Climate Commitment, reaffirming ASU’s commitment to carbon neutrality and committed ASU to develop a Climate Resilience Plan.
Starting in 2016, University Sustainability Practices convened to design ASU's Climate Resilience Plan with:
- 64 ASU administrators, staff and directors.
- 28 faculty members and deans.
- 18 community leaders, residents, partner organizations and community college representatives.
- 14 ASU students.
- Four city managers and representatives.
- Two climatologists.
ASU’s Climate Resilience Plan is composed of two parts:
- Climate Resilience Emergency Management Plan: To ensure ASU is prepared for any climate emergencies it might face.
- Climate Resilience Enterprise Planning Framework: To integrate resilience into the planning processes for the ASU Enterprise.
The ASU Climate Resilience Plan is a working document; your feedback is welcomed.
Download each part hyperlinked above to see what each seeks to achieve.
| Commitment | Target date | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Create internal institutional structures to guide the development and implementation of the plan. | February 2017 | Complete |
| Support a campus and community task force to align the plan with community goals, facilitate joint action and submit the first progress evaluation. | February 2018 | Complete |
| Lead and complete an initial campus-community resilience assessment, including initial indicators and current vulnerabilities. | Within two years | In-progress: Downtown Phoenix, Polytechnic and Tempe campuses Complete: West Valley campus |
| February 2019 | In-progress |
| Review, revise if necessary, and resubmit the climate action plan. | At least every five years. | In-progress |