Federal Emergency Management Agency
2022–2026 FEMA Strategic Plan: Building the FEMA our Nation Needs and Deserves
On December 9, 2021, the Federal Emergency Management Agency released its strategic plan for 2022–2026, restoring climate change considerations that were absent from the Trump administration’s strategic plan. Specifically, one of the three major goals listed in the strategic plan is to “Lead Whole of Community in Climate Resilience.” This goal includes three sub-goals:
1) “Increase climate literacy among the emergency management community;”
2) “Build a climate resilient nation;” and
3) “Empower risk-informed decision making.”
National Flood Insurance Program Rating System
On October 1, 2021, the Federal Emergency Management Agency published an update to its Flood Insurance Manual, titled Risk Rating 2.0: Equity in Action, which updates its National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to account for increasing flood trends. This is the first update to its NFIP rating methodology since the 1970s, and it follows a 2017 Department of Homeland Security report which found significant inadequacies in FEMA’s previous methodology. The manual explains that “FEMA’s new rating methodology leverages catastrophe modeling, geospatial technology, and NFIP mapping data to estimate risk and determine the cost of flood insurance for each individual building.” FEMA released a report in April 2021 that documents the Risk Rating 2.0 methodology and data sources.
National Flood Insurance Program Floodplain Management Standards
On October 12, 2021, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) published a notice of request for information on how to best revise the National Flood Insurance Program’s (NFIP) floodplain management standards to increase climate resiliency. NFIP’s floodplain management standards are designed to reduce future flood risk, but they have not been updated since 1976. FEMA is seeking to align the standards with modern understanding of flood risks and flood risk reduction approaches. The public may submit comments to FEMA until December 13, 2021.
Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Policy
On February 25, 2022, the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued its Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Policy. The policy statement describes a new hazard mitigation grant program to assist States, territories, Tribes, and local governments with mitigating the impacts of natural hazards, including those associated with or amplified by climate change. The program is meant to “promote[] a national culture of preparedness through encouraging investments to protect communities and infrastructure by increasing pre-disaster hazard mitigation and strengthening national resilience.”