Climate Integration

Considering Climate Change in Everything We Do

Climate Change

Image
A man tends newly-planted Acacia trees in an arid landscape
Illegal alluvial gold mining in Colombia is a complex phenomenon that not only sweeps away vegetation but alters the balance of ecosystems through aggressive mechanical extraction methods that create deserts. In Antioquia, Colombia this has degraded over 45 thousand hectares of land, stripping away valuable trees that can absorb carbon dioxide (CO2), one of the main greenhouse gasses. The USAID-Oro Legal Activity brought together indigenous and Afro Colombian communities, the private sector, and local and departmental governments to mitigate the environmental impact of uncontrolled mineral exploitation on more than one thousand hectares of degraded ex-mining land. Today 1,133,220 Acacia mangium trees and other native species are greening large tracts of land where just a few years ago only rocks and bare soil could be found.
Jorge E. Martínez Santamaría / USAID
Climate change affects nearly everything we do at USAID. As such, the Agency mainstreams climate change considerations across much of our development and humanitarian assistance work: we look at how our programs—from economic growth to global health to conflict prevention—affect and are affected by climate change.

Featured Story

Image
A smiling woman engineer in the foreground of a hilltop with several wind turbines

USAID’s Climate Work: FY 2023 Year in Review

In FY 2023, USAID supported our partners to prevent 295 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions, help over 60 countries build resilience to climate impacts, conserve 82 million hectares of tropical rainforests, and mobilize $16.7 billion in climate finance.
Read the story

Climate variability and change impacts development in all sectors. Changing precipitation patterns can hurt food security, and less predictable and more intense floods and storms can destroy homes, hospitals, and roads. Hotter temperatures can harm human health, including through heat exhaustion and expansion of pests and diseases into new geographical areas.

USAID integrates climate change considerations and objectives into much of its broader development and humanitarian assistance work, recognizing that efforts in areas such as food and water security, health, governance and more can contribute to climate resilience and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, climate change adaptation and mitigation can directly benefit efforts and objectives in many of the sectors USAID works in. Thus, USAID programs across a variety of sectors help people, communities, governments, and institutions become more resilient to actual and expected changes in climate, and often support climate mitigation.

Our Approach and Results

Much of USAID’s climate integration is done through climate risk management, an established Agency-wide process to assess, address, and adaptively manage climate risks within all of our development efforts. Climate risk management improves the effectiveness and sustainability of our efforts, increases countries’ resilience to a changing climate, and ensures U.S. taxpayer dollars are well spent. Our staff begin managing for climate risks from the initial planning of our development efforts. As a result, more than 98 percent of our non-emergency development programming was screened for possible climate impacts in FY 2019. Climate risk management provides relevant, critical information for the Agency, identifying moderate or high climate risks to more than half of our programs.

USAID supports both internal and external efforts to consider climate change in all development sectors. Since April 2011, approximately 1,500 staff working in various technical areas have participated in climate change training, increasing our capacity to address climate change in all sectors. Our Climate Integration Leads throughout the organization, and around the world, ensure that our programs consider and account for possible climate impacts. USAID also shares climate change expertise through our climate knowledge sharing portal, Climatelinks.org. Through Climatelinks, we provide technical resources and training materials to development practitioners all over the world, with an average of 24,000 visitors to the site every month.

USAID also works with partner countries and organizations to integrate climate change considerations into development goals and planning. For example, from 2010-2015, we helped 25 countries to inventory their emissions and use that data to develop, improve, and implement their low-emissions development strategies. All 25 countries submitted Intended Nationally Determined Contributions to the Paris Agreement, committing to a 30 percent average reduction in greenhouse gas emissions over business-as-usual projections by 2030.

Examples

Implementers of a habitat conservation effort pose for a photo in a dry landscape surrounded by small saplings

Strengthening Biodiversity Conservation in Dominican Republic

Climate risk management enabled implementers of a biodiversity conservation program to coordinate strategies with known weather events that could impact habitat restoration activities.
Small children wash their hands in a school setting

Contributing to Water Resources Management in Armenia

Climate risk management has been critical to the success of USAID’s Advanced Science and Partnerships for Integrated Resources Development (ASPIRED) project to protect Armenia’s artesian aquifers.
A man speaks in front of his peers in a village

Calming Climate-Related Conflict in Karamoja

Climate risk management identified ways to reduce the risk of resource-related conflict for USAID/Uganda’s Securing Peace and Promoting Prosperity in Karamoja activity. The activity is helping communities resolve conflict over grazing lands even as more intense drought increases pressure on these lands.

Assessments

Three smiling boys sit on a bed in front of a mosquito bed net

Health and Climate Change Assessments

2014–2020
These assessments build on current scientific knowledge and identify responses that address risks posed by a changing climate to strengthen USAID's health programming.
A young girl in India studies on top of a pile of harvested rice by the light of a solar-powered lamp.

Evaluation of Climate Risk Management at USAID

USAID assesses how our management of climate risks impacts development results so we can discover ways to drive further improvements.
A group of men gather around a map marking various areas.

Climate Change Integration in USAID Activities

This assessment examined how climate change considerations in USAID solicitations and grant announcements translate into activity implementation. The report also highlights factors that influence whether and to what extent integration occurs.

For More Information

Our Approach to Advancing Climate Action

Image
A smiling woman tends to her moringa trees in Malawi

Body
Increasing global climate action is essential to protect our development gains and progress sustainable development in our partner countries. USAID’s climate programs don’t just help limit warming and protect critical ecosystems—they create sustainable jobs, tackle historical inequality, and build stronger communities.

USAID Climate Strategy 2022–2030

Image
An antelope crosses the Kenyan savanna at dusk.

Body
USAID’s 2022–2030 Climate Strategy guides our whole-of-Agency approach to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, help partner countries build resilience to climate change, and improve our operations.

Climate Change

Image
A young woman sits on a swing overlooking the setting sun over the water.

Body
USAID plays a vital role in mitigating climate change and addressing its impacts by working with partner countries to implement ambitious emissions reduction measures, protect critical ecosystems, transition to renewable energy, build resilience against the impacts of climate change, and promote the flow of capital toward climate-positive investments.

Environment, Energy, and Infrastructure

Image
Men in and near a boat in the water check marker buoys

Body
The conservation and stewardship of natural resources; reliable and affordable access to secure, modern energy services; and modern, resilient infrastructure are critical to promote sustainable growth, enhance security, and accelerate progress toward resilience and prosperity.

Related Updates