ResilientMass Action Team
The ResilientMass Action Team (RMAT) is an inter-agency working group responsible for implementation, monitoring, and maintenance of the ResilientMass Plan (2023 State Hazard Mitigation and Climate Adaptation Plan, SHMCAP).
ResilientMass Action Team (RMAT) Responsibilities
Led by the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) and the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), the RMAT includes representatives from each Secretariat, called Climate Change Coordinators, who are supported by agency staff, stakeholders, and subject matter experts.
The RMAT is tasked with monitoring and tracking the ResilientMass Plan implementation process, making recommendations to and supporting agencies on plan updates, and facilitating coordination across State government and with stakeholders.
ResilientMass Plan
The ResilientMass Plan is the Commonwealth’s innovative State Hazard Mitigation and Climate Adaptation Plan (SHMCAP), developed through robust engagement with state and local government agencies, subject matter experts, community focus groups, and other key stakeholders. Building on the science and findings of the 2022 Massachusetts Climate Assessment and the 2018 SHMCAP, the Plan identifies strategies and specific, measurable actions state agencies will take to address risks to the human health and safety, communities, critical assets and infrastructure, natural resources, governance, and economy of the Commonwealth. Progress updates on these actions are publicly available through the ResilientMass Action Tracker.
The Plan aligns with Massachusetts’ vision to ensure that the Commonwealth is prepared to withstand, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all types of emergencies and disasters—and complies with FEMA requirements for state eligibility for pre- and post-disaster federal funding.
ResilientMass Plan - Executive Summary
MA Climate Change Assessment
The MA Climate Change Assessment is a statewide analysis detailing how Massachusetts people, environments, and infrastructure may be affected by climate change and related hazards through the end of the century. This assessment will directly inform the 2023 ResilientMass Plan.
Climate Resilience Design Standards and Guidelines
The "Climate Resilience Design Standards and Guidelines" project developed guidance for state-funded projects to enhance how the Commonwealth assesses climate resilience as part of its capital planning process. The beta Climate Resilience Design Standards Tool will provide state-funded projects:
a preliminary climate change exposure and risk rating;
recommended climate resilience design standards for projects with physical assets; and,
guidelines with best practices to support implementation.
The project deliverables are grounded in scientific methodology using available climate science data for Massachusetts, and will be enhanced over time to incorporate new science, additional or changing climate hazards, and on-going stakeholder feedback.
Learn more about and access the beta Climate Resilience Design Standards Tool
State Agency Resilience Highlights
The RMAT is advancing climate resilience actions in many ways. Here are a few highlights:
Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) Resilience Master Plan
MA Coast Flood Risk Model (MC-FRM)
Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) Climate Hazard Adaptation and Resilience Master Plan (CHARM)
Department of Public Health (DPH) Climate Enhanced Community Profiles
MA Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) Interim Protocol on Climate Adaptation and Resilience
EEA/Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Transportation & Climate Initiative
SHMCAP Implementation and Maintenance
To maintain relevancy, evaluate progress, and improve long-term resiliency, the SHMCAP is a living document that will evolve as specific hazard mitigation, and climate adaptation actions are implemented and in response to an ongoing dialogue with stakeholders.
Effective plan implementation will be accomplished by designing implementation strategies and establishing timelines for priority actions and by continuing to monitor, evaluate, update, and develop actions as new data and experience become available. Therefore, the responsibility for plan implementation falls on many state agencies.
The key components for regular SHMCAP maintenance include an annual plan review, a post-disaster review, and a 5-year plan review and update. Effective plan maintenance will also require additional recurring activities that are not bound to specific methods or schedules, such as tracking and documenting new or best practices for hazard mitigation and climate adaptation, or new policies or procedures that may affect how the SHMCAP is implemented. The RMAT is expected to perform many of these ongoing activities.
CONTACT
The ResilientMass website is a gateway to data and information relevant to climate change adaptation and mitigation across the Commonwealth. It provides local climate change science and decision support tools for the Commonwealth to support decision making that enhances climate resilience for local planners, practitioners, policy-makers, and the public.