Resilient MA Action Team
The RMAT is an inter-agency team responsible for implementation, monitoring, and maintenance of the State Hazard Mitigation and Climate Adaptation Plan (SHMCAP)
Resilient MA Action Team (RMAT) Responsibilities
Led by the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) and the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), the RMAT is an inter-agency team comprised of 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 State Hazard Mitigation and Climate Adaptation Plan (SHMCAP) implementation process, making recommendations to and supporting agencies on plan updates, and facilitating coordination across State government and with stakeholders.
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
Department of Transportation (MassDOT) MA Coast Flood Risk Model (MC-FRM) and Vulnerability Assessment
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 Massachusetts Climate Change Clearinghouse (resilient MA) 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.