Climate Resilience Design Standards Tool
Log in or register below to use the Tool (Version 1.4).
For state staff requesting first time access, please email climatescience@mass.gov
Project Overview
The ResilientMass Action Team (RMAT) led development of the Climate Resilience Design Standards Tool, advancing prioritized global (or cross-agency) actions from the 2018 State Hazard Mitigation and Climate Adaptation Plan (SHMCAP). This effort has developed climate resilience design standards and guidance for State agencies in order to incorporate climate resilience into the State’s capital planning process and grant-making for local capital projects. The Climate Resilience Design Standards Tool (Version 1.4) provides:
a preliminary climate change hazard exposure and risk rating;
recommended climate resilience design standards for projects with physical assets; and,
guidance with best practices to support implementation.
The Tool outputs 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 ongoing stakeholder feedback.
Project Inputs and Preliminary Climate Risk Screening Output
The Climate Resilience Design Standards Tool (Version 1.4) prompts users to input project information. Based on these responses and the project location, the Tool determines a preliminary climate hazard exposure rating for the overall project, by climate hazard (sea level rise/storm surge, precipitation, temperature). This rating, combined with the consequence of impact of that asset failing (determined by user responses to a series of questions), informs a preliminary climate risk screening for each asset, by climate hazard.
Climate Resilience Design Standards Output
The Tool also provides projects recommended “Climate Resilience Design Standards.” Standards are defined for this project as, “a scientifically based process or method that produces a consistent outcome, which uniformly guides users in the selection of planning horizons, return period, and flexible design criteria, by climate parameter.” The recommended standards utilize available statewide climate data to provide a consistent methodology for developing design criteria values. The methodologies are structured in tiers to reflect the level of effort associated with using the climate data to generate design criteria values, and are recommended based on project useful life and criticality. With the Version 1.4 release (February 2025), the Tool provides projected numeric outputs for several coastal and precipitation design criteria. Further, for water surface elevation and wave action water elevation design criteria (applicable to projects exposed to sea level rise), Version 1.4 now includes maps. Finally, Version 1.4 now includes projected numeric outputs for most temperature design criteria. An additional resource is included below that contains the in-tool guidance for the design standards section for easy reference.
Guidance and Best Practices
The Climate Resilience Design Guidance provides general design guidance to consider while implementing the recommended standards. The Guidance is overarching climate resilience principles that are not specific to project type or climate hazards, and are illustrated through example best practices. Forms are also provided to guide users through the Guidance considerations and document decision making throughout the planning process.
Guidance and Best Practices PDF
Additional forms include:
Additional Information and Resources
Additional Resources include:
Project Form (for use if web-tool is unaccessible)
Tool Training Video (February, 2023)
Tiered Methodology (Combined Package)
Massachusetts Coast Flood Risk Model (MC-FRM) FAQ (April 6, 2022)
Massachusetts Coast Flood Risk Model (MC-FRM) Online Trainings (April-May 2023)
EEA's Climate and Hydrologic Risk Project - Weather Generator Technical Document (April, 2022)
EEA's Climate and Hydrologic Risk Project - IDF Curves Technical Document (December, 2021)
Tool (V1.2) Training Video - February, 2023
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.