Climate Action Toolkit

“The Case for Climate Abandonment” from First Street Foundation presents a framework for understanding how the United States will face strategic decisions to withdraw from or “abandon” certain geographies in response to escalating climate threats.

Rather than focusing solely on adaptation or mitigation, the report explores the political, economic, social, and moral implications of planned retreat from areas rendered uninhabitable by sea-level rise, wildfires, heat, or water scarcity. It challenges traditional assumptions about resilience and preparedness, calling for a more honest national dialogue about triage, risk prioritization, and the uneven burden of climate impacts across communities.

The document provides a synthesis of existing academic and policy literature on the links between climate change and human displacement. It reviews key drivers such as sea-level rise, drought, flooding, and extreme weather, emphasizing how these stressors interact with social, economic, and political vulnerabilities to influence migration patterns. The review categorizes displacement into sudden-onset and slow-onset events, explores regional trends, and highlights the disproportionate impacts on marginalized communities. It also identifies major knowledge gaps, including the need for more data on internal displacement and the challenges of defining and protecting climate-displaced persons under existing legal frameworks.

This interactive ProPublica feature, titled “New Climate Maps Show a Transformed United States,” offers a powerful visual and data-driven examination of climate-driven demographic shifts. Drawing on analysis from the Rhodium Group, in partnership with The New York Times Magazine, the site illustrates how rising temperatures, shifting precipitation patterns, extreme humidity, wildfires, and sea level rise are redefining habitable zones across North America. It visualizes what a transformed climate landscape might mean for North America’s populations and farmlands, portraying how regions traditionally habitable for millennia may be reshaped by 21st-century climate change

The Report on the Impact of Climate Change on Migration, released in October 2021 by the Biden–Harris administration, examines the intersection of climate change and human mobility. It outlines how climate‑related hazards, such as sea‑level rise, drought, wildfires, and permafrost thaw, are increasingly contributing to both domestic and international displacement. The report underscores the limitations of existing legal protections for climate‑displaced individuals, highlights the need for proactive U.S. foreign assistance and multilateral action, and recommends establishing a standing interagency policy process on Climate Change and Migration to coordinate efforts across scientific, humanitarian, development, and security domains.