AT&T, FEMA & Argonne National Laboratory Collaborate to Launch Climate Risk and Resilience Portal for U.S. Communities

What’s the news? AT&T, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne) today announced the launch of the Climate Risk and Resilience Portal (ClimRR), which advances access to cutting-edge science for climate projections to help improve America’s preparedness for future climate extremes.

This announcement comes as world leaders gather for the United Nations climate change conference COP27.

Using climate science modeling that is among the most sophisticated methodologies worldwide, ClimRR gives state, local, tribal and territorial emergency managers and community leaders free access to localized data about future climate risks that can be used to explore strategies for resilience. Initial hazards included in ClimRR are temperature, precipitation, wind and drought conditions. Additional risks, such as wildfire and flooding, will be added in the coming months.

AT&T originally commissioned Argonne’s Center for Climate Resilience and Decision Science to produce the projections in ClimRR for the company’s own adaptation efforts. Through this collaboration, AT&T has made the data used in ClimRR publicly available.

Why is this important? One in three Americans say they have been personally affected by an extreme weather event in the past two years. These impacts, which are becoming more frequent and intense, can vary not just from state to state, but even at the local level.

ClimRR provides peer-reviewed climate datasets in a non-technical format into the hands of those who need them most. Community leaders and public safety officials can now understand how increasing climate risks will affect their populations. Access to this information will assist leaders as they invest in infrastructure and response capabilities to protect communities for future generations.

What are people saying?

“Harnessing the power of our supercomputers, we are making cutting edge climate data available to local planning officials to help them take the needed actions to become more climate resilient,” said Argonne Director Paul Kearns.

“While fortifying the AT&T network against climate change is critical for the millions of people who rely on the connectivity we provide, resiliency can’t be built in a vacuum,” said Charlene Lake, chief sustainability officer and SVP-Corporate Social Responsibility at AT&T. “That’s why we’re excited to work closely with FEMA and Argonne to get it into the right hands.”

To learn about working with Argonne in this space, visit www.anl.gov/partners and view the YouTube video here.

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