Heat Island Newsroom

• March 2024
• November 2023
• July 2023

March 18, 2024 Newsletter

EPA Updates

New Bioretention Design Handbook
EPA’s new Bioretention Design Handbook informs stormwater management practitioners about the latest approaches and lessons learned for bioretention design, construction, operation, and maintenance. The handbook discusses the co-benefits of bioretention design, including heat island mitigation, increased green space and wildlife habitat, and improved air quality.

Federal Funding Opportunities

Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grants
EPA’s new Community Change Grants will invest $2 billion in environmental and climate justice activities to benefit disadvantaged communities through projects that reduce pollution, increase community climate resilience, and build community capacity to respond to environmental and climate justice challenges. Applications are due November 21, 2024.

Phase 2 Climate Pollution Reduction Implementation Grants (CPRG)
The CPRG program provides grants to states, local governments, Tribes, and territories to develop and implement plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other harmful air pollution. Phase 2 implementation grants will implement measures included in a Priority Climate Action Plan developed in Phase 1 of the program. Organizations must submit their applications by April 1, 2024. Applications for the Tribes and territories competition are due May 1, 2024.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Funding Opportunity - Supporting Climate Resilient Communities
This NASA opportunity funds projects that increase the use of NASA Earth observations to support community resilience, expand the communities of practice who use NASA Earth observations to develop climate-informed community resilience decisions, demonstrate the value of using NASA Earth observations to prepare for and respond to climate change, and inform NASA’s future strategic engagement and activities on climate resilience. Applications are due May 3, 2024.

Heat Island News and Resources

General Heat Islands

Heat Islands in the Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5)
NCA5, released by the U.S. Global Change Research Program in November 2023, reaffirms that heat islands caused by the built environment may compound heat impacts from climate change. Heat islands may also contribute to more severe precipitation and wildfire events. The findings also highlight heat islands’ disproportionate impact on low-income communities. Across much of the United States, higher heat is experienced in census tracts with lower socioeconomic status and a higher percentage of Black and Asian residents, with this difference particularly pronounced in the Northeast. The report emphasizes that heat islands can be alleviated through urban resilience (e.g., urban forest, farming, gardening) and nature-based solutions (e.g., green roofs, green walls).

Equity

How to Frame Urban Heat Resilience as an Infrastructure Issue
Framing heat resilience as an infrastructure issue can accelerate adaptation to rising temperatures. However, infrastructure planning processes are often viewed with distrust by underserved communities. By integrating heat risk messaging into the activities of existing social networks, such as churches, libraries, youth organizations, and after-school programs, communities can help increase resilience to heat while also building cohesion and trust.

Trees and Vegetation

New York, New York Updates Tree Canopy Cover Goal
New York City recently passed a measure increasing its tree canopy cover goal to 30% by 2035, up from a previous goal of 22%. Researchers at Cornell University designed Tree Folio NYC, a three-dimensional mapping tool that offers a “leaf-level” visualization for each of the city’s trees. By focusing on individual trees, the tool helps researchers understand how each tree contributes to shade and overall cooling effect in a neighborhood. City planners can use this information to ensure tree-planting efforts to reach the new canopy goal prioritize areas for planting that maximize cooling and provide equitable tree canopy cover.

Boston, Massachusetts Releases New Public Tree Protection Ordinance
The city’s new ordinance preserves trees on city-owned properties, establishes notice and public hearing requirements for the removal of healthy trees, and ensures that removed public street trees are replaced with trees of equivalent size and species in the same neighborhood. These regulations work to close the tree canopy gap among neighborhoods, reduce the heat island effect, and improve air quality for all residents. The ordinance stems from the recommendation in the city’s Urban Forest Plan to preserve and expand tree canopy cover.

November 20, 2023 Newsletter

EPA Updates

Cool New Heat Island Reduction Program Resources

• Cool Roofs Webpage. Updated content features types of cool roof products, co-benefits of cool roofs, types of cool roof incentive programs, and other resources.
• Cincinnati, Ohio Case Study. Local tree equity efforts include the creation of a city-wide tax assessment to generate funding, analysis of tree canopy coverage across the city, and targeted efforts to increase tree canopy in the hottest neighborhoods.
• Frequent Questions on Heat Islands. This new page features succinct answers to common questions about heat islands, including: “What causes heat islands?,” “How do heat islands affect people?,” “How are heat islands related to equity?,” and other questions.
• Community Actions Database. New local project examples include cool roofs in Cambridge, Massachusetts; complete streets ordinance in Cleveland, Ohio; matching grant program in Miami-Dade County, Florida; functional green code in Austin, Texas; and more.  

Land Use and Green Infrastructure Scorecard

EPA’s Land Use and Green Infrastructure Scorecard guides municipalities through local plans, policies, and practices to protect water resources while maximizing additional community benefits, such as heat reduction, flood minimization, improved public health, and increased climate change resilience. The updated version includes more information on community engagement and equity, climate change, and the benefits of green infrastructure. 

Federal Funding Opportunities

New Heat.gov Webpage on Federal Funding Opportunities
Heat.gov released a new webpage highlighting federal funding opportunities. The funding opportunities include those from National Integrated Heat Health Information System partner agencies, other federal agencies, and non-governmental organizations that directly address heat or are heat relevant. The list is updated weekly.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Announces Environmental Justice Community Innovator Challenge
HHS is seeking community-led strategies and tools to address health disparities in communities disproportionately impacted by environmental risks and hazards. Phase 1 funding will: (a) design an innovative concept to enhance community-driven efforts to mitigate environmental health disparities and advance environmental health equity, or (b) develop a pilot project to support a previously developed concept. Awardees may receive up to $25,000. Applications are due on January 30, 2024.

Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grants
EPA’s new Community Change Grants will invest $2 billion in environmental and climate justice activities to benefit disadvantaged communities through projects that reduce pollution, increase community climate resilience, and build community capacity to respond to environmental and climate justice challenges. 

Phase 2 Climate Pollution Reduction Implementation Grants (CPRG)
The CPRG program provides grants to states, local governments, Tribes, and territories to develop and implement plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other harmful air pollution. Phase 2 implementation grants will implement measures included in a Priority Climate Action Plan developed in Phase 1 of the program. Organizations must submit their applications by April 1, 2024. Applications for the Tribes and territories competition are due May 1, 2024.

Heat Island News and Resources

General Heat Islands

New Arsht-Rock Foundation Heat Action Platform Emphasizes Policy Solutions
The Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation, Extreme Heat Resilience Alliance, United Nations Environment Programme, and other collaborators launched a new version of the Heat Action Platform designed to support practitioners and policymakers in adapting to extreme heat. The platform features new resources to assess heat risk, create a heat adaptation plan, and implement and evaluate solutions. The interactive policy tool helps identify potential interventions based on local climate, density of development, and more.

Multiple Strategies Are Needed To Build Heat-Resilient Cities
Using feedback from climate experts, architects, and urban planners, Grist designed a model city to reduce extreme heat in city centers, residential areas, and commercial zones. The fictitious city uses cooling strategies such as shaded structures, trees, misters, cool pavements, reflective glass, and green walls to lower temperatures and reduce carbon emissions. 

Cool Materials

Cities in Texas, Tennessee, and California Pilot Cool Pavements

Neighborhoods in Austin, Texas, Nashville, Tennessee, Los Angeles, California, and Los Altos, California, have applied cool pavement technologies to reduce temperatures from the heat island effect. Nashville recorded surface temperatures 10 to 12°F cooler than nearby conventional pavement. Data from Los Angeles show that surface temperatures are 10°F cooler and ambient air temperatures 1.5 to 3.5°F cooler than neighboring communities without cool pavement. The cities continue to monitor impacts and consider expanding cool pavement applications.

Trees and Vegetation

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Launches New Initiative to Improve Tree Equity
Milwaukee’s Forestry Services launched a new initiative through the city’s Urban Forestry Fund, to bring trees, expertise, and guidance for community partners and their neighborhoods. Residents can apply for funds to plant 10 to 50 trees in their neighborhood. The fund will prioritize underserved communities with a lower tree equity score. Achieving tree equity across the city can improve public health and well-being and address the heat island effect.

Households Opt-in to Tree Equity Efforts in New Orleans, Louisiana
Tree-planting group SOUL (Sustaining Our Urban Landscape) is leading the New Orleans Reforestation Plan and is working to ensure that all neighborhoods in the city have at least 10% tree canopy coverage. In Pontchartrain Park, one of the city’s historically redlined neighborhoods, SOUL is planting a tree in front of every household that wants one. Seventy percent of households have opted in. 

Growing Relationships Increases Tree Planting in Louisville, Kentucky
Researchers from the U.S. Forest Service and North Carolina State University evaluated the efforts of Louisville Grows in Kentucky to understand patterns of residential tree planting adoption. Louisville Grows saw a 10 percent tree planting adoption rate in low socioeconomic status areas initially, but now sees a 30 to 40 percent adoption rate after prioritizing building trust and cultivating relationships with residents and community leaders. Data from the campaign suggest that income and race factors were not strongly linked to adoption rate; however, residents with bigger homes in already green areas were more likely to accept trees. The researchers suggest that tree planting programs must account for cultural norms and values to address tree inequities.

Depaving

Depaving Initiative Cools St. Louis Park, Minnesota
St. Louis Park’s (SLP’s) Sustainability Department launched Depave SLP, an initiative to provide partial reimbursement to property owners who remove pavement and replace it with vegetation. Eligible depaving project elements include rain gardens, native plants, pollinator plants/habitat, permeable pavers, and trees. Property owners who depave in a designated “Environmental Justice priority area” are eligible for a greater amount of reimbursement. Depave SLP aims to cool the local area, reduce flooding, and improve air quality.

Public Health

Report Features Measures to Improve Future Heat Outcomes in Washington State
In the wake of the “heat dome” that affected the Pacific Northwest in 2021, the University of Washington released a report calling for actions to reduce extreme heat in Washington State. These actions include creating cooling centers, addressing extreme heat in building codes, increasing tree canopy and shade structures, improving air conditioning access in low-income households, and increasing intra- and inter-governmental coordination to drive implementation.