As director of nature-based resilience at the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), Lydia Olander worked for two years to connect efforts to protect U.S. lands and waters with emerging climate resilience priorities. Part of a series focusing on Nicholas Institute experts who have recently taken on temporary assignments within federal entities.

Ashley Ward joins 97.9 The Hill’s "News on the Hill" program every other Thursday to comment on the latest climate news.

The federal government in the United States is increasingly taking action to adapt to the growing impacts of climate change. But how do we know what’s working? A group of Duke University experts partnered with the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to develop a framework for assessing progress toward goals laid out in agencies’ 2024–2027 climate adaptation plans.

Debt-for-nature swaps were conceived nearly 40 years ago to help financially struggling nations get relief from their foreign debt payments in exchange for their commitment to carry out conservation and climate activities. Ahead of moderating a Climate Week panel on the subject, Nicholas Institute expert Liz Losos spoke with Duke Today about reforming these transactions to ease post-COVID debt crises while helping meet international biodiversity and climate targets.

At Climate Week NYC (September 22-29, 2024), influential leaders from multiple sectors will exchange ideas and collaborate on plans to accelerate climate action. A delegation of Duke University scholars will help drive dialogue at this annual convening, which drew more than 6,500 attendees last year. In addition to organizing three public events, Duke University experts will be facilitating closed-door conversations and networking with decision-makers and with current and potential external partners.

In support of a U.N. call to action on extreme heat, the Duke Heat Policy Innovation Hub is partnering with two international organizations on a package of policy solutions designed to improve extreme heat governance and resilience worldwide.

Are you a Duke University alum with plans (or potential plans) to attend Climate Week NYC (September 22-29) or the UNFCCC’s Conference of Parties (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan (November 11-22)? Duke University experts will again take part in these important convenings alongside climate thought leaders and decision-makers from across the world—and we are eager to connect with Duke alumni who will also be joining.

Last month, Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) convened 14 companies and five federal agencies for a roundtable on advancing climate resilience in the U.S., convened by C2ES, Resilience Rising, and the Resilience Roadmap project at the Nicholas Institute. This blog post shares insights from the robust conversation on the need to align public and private efforts to build resilience.

A massive heat dome is moving eastward across the United States, endangering human health with an extended stretch of high temperatures. In this news tip, Ashley Ward (director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub) offers commentary and tips for staying safe.

Francis Bouchard, Duke’s first climate leader in residence and longtime insurance executive, wrote in a commentary for Insurance Thought Leadership that a recent workshop could serve as a model for bridging the gap between industry knowledge and community needs. The convening aimed to address at-risk/in-need communities—and those who support them—about the types of climate risk data and analytics they could access and deploy. Duke experts helped facilitate conversation among 40 state and local leaders.