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To secure crucial climate action, focus on resilience

What is climate action?

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is the most widely-accepted international scientific body on climate change, when we think about climate action, we should think climate-resilient development.1

Climate-resilient development means deeply reducing greenhouse gas emissions (“mitigation”) while dealing with the changing climate already coming at us (“adaptation”) and doing both in a way that supports sustainable development for everyone.

Mitigation

Mitigationmeans reducing greenhouse gas emissions.2 The magnitude of reduction needed is associated with limiting global warming by as close as possible to 1.5C (2.7F) degrees. Overall that means reducing half of global emissions from the period of 2023 (IPCC’s most recent major update) by 2030.

The US’ likely best ways to support that transition, as evaluated in 2024 by the Biden adminstration, are to (1) decarbonize the energy sector (focusing on cutting energy waste; shifting to carbon pollution-free electricity; electrifying and driving efficiency in vehicles, buildings, and parts of industry), (2) reduce emissions from forests and agriculture and enhancing carbon sinks, and (3) reduce non-CO2 greenhouse gases including methane, hydrofluorocarbons, and other potent short-lived climate pollutants.

For the US to carry its fair share, it needs reduce its emissions by about half from 2024 to 2030, or about 6,400 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (MtCO2e), according to Climate Action Tracker, which monitors and evaluates countries’ commitments.

The US’ actual commitment as of November 2024 (per its nationally-determined contribution submitted to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) was about 22-28% for the period of 2024 to 2030. 3

Adaptation

Adaptationmeans adapting to the changes underway. It also specifically means avoiding maladaptation, or in other words, responses that worsen existing inequities, especially for Indigenous Peoples and marginalized groups, or that hurt ecosystem and biodiversity resilience.

Adaptation is a process that can take place over the range of multiple timescales, from nearer term to longer term, and really any physical level, from the whole human civilization on down.

Sustainable development for everyone

Sustainable development for everyone means centering justice, equity, and inclusion in investments and other commitments in order to avoid perpetuating historical and ongoing injustices, inequities, exclusions, and that reconcile divergent interests, values and worldviews toward equitable and just outcomes for all.

Sustainable development for everyone specifically involves building a just transition, or managing the shift to a low-carbon economy in a way that is fair and inclusive, ensuring that no one is left behind.

Such responses work more broadly to meet, and ideally create synergies with the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs).

The three processes of mitigation, adaptation, and sustainble development for everyone together can be considered “climate-resilient development.”

The three aspects are related and affect each another. For example, initiatives that aim to support mitigation need to be adaptable to a heating climate or they could fail. Also, a community’s needs for adaptation are a function of how much warming is prevented by mitigation. And responses that are just, equitable, and inclusive are likely to strengthen the possibilities for mitigation and adaptation.

References

1 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2023). AR6 Synthesis Report: Climate Change 2023. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-cycle/

2 https://globalecoguy.org/we-need-to-see-the-whole-board-to-stop-climate-change-98be66412281

3 https://climateactiontracker.org/countries/usa

Click to access United%20States%20NDC%20April%2021%202021%20Final.pdf

https://rhg.com/research/us-greenhouse-gas-emissions-2023/embed/#?secret=Jj3TeU8v8M#?secret=FlMJIU6o5c

The US commitment is to reduce emissions from 2005 levels (7.4 gt total and 6.7 gt net) by about half (50-52%) by 2030. The US is projected to achieve about half of that reduction (26-28%) by 2025.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2022). Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel. See especially Technical Summary. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/

See also the Moreworks bibliography

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Primer on subnational climate action

Subnational climate action means everything that happens below the federal level. Cities, counties, regional agencies, states, multi state coalitions, and interstate institutions set rules and invest public dollars.

Subnational policy shapes markets, unlocks private capital, and builds the record that supports durable national standards. It spreads a few ways.

First, it creates working examples. A city or state proves a rule or program can work, then peers copy it and vendors standardize around it.

Second, it builds markets that lower costs. Public procurement and utility programs create steady demand that pulls in manufacturing and finance.

Third, it uses planning and permitting authority to direct dollars and projects.

Fourth, it establishes a technical and legal record that supports stronger federal standards later. The result is a set of local and regional moves that add up to national behavior long before a federal rule arrives.

Cities and counties

Cities and counties control land use, zoning, building codes, building performance standards, and permitting. Building performance standards, often shortened to BPS, set energy or emissions limits for large buildings and drive demand for heat pumps, smart controls, and retrofits. Local governments run fleets and buy buses, trucks, and construction materials. Electrification ready codes and streamlined permits reduce soft costs and speed adoption.

Local action can also advance national practice when done together. Cities can adopt common templates for electric vehicle ready requirements, clean construction, and benchmarking. They can pool purchases of buses and trucks, share compliance tools and data, and align timelines. When many cities move in concert, vendors face one clear set of expectations, which speeds product development and lowers costs across the country.

Intrastate (or “sub-state”) regional agencies

Metropolitan Planning Organizations, known as MPOs, program federal transportation dollars through long range plans and a Transportation Improvement Program, called a TIP. Plans must conform to the emissions budget in the State Implementation Plan, or SIP. Some states also set greenhouse gas targets for MPOs. When MPOs shift funds toward transit, maintenance, safe streets, managed lanes, and charging depots, vehicle miles traveled, or VMT, grows more slowly and fleets electrify faster.

Transit agencies operate bus and rail systems and manage large depots and right of way. They plan service, buy vehicles, install chargers and grid upgrades, and coordinate street design with cities and MPOs. Major procurements of zero emission buses and charging equipment create predictable demand that manufacturers serve nationwide. Service that is frequent, reliable, and safe also reduces driving, which cuts emissions and improves local air quality.

Air quality management districts write rules and permits that feed into the SIP under the federal Clean Air Act. They target nitrogen oxides, called NOx, and volatile organic compounds, called VOCs, to meet health standards. Many regulate pollution from freight hubs through indirect source rules for warehouses, ports, and airports, and through tighter limits on combustion equipment. Because logistics networks operate across state lines, strong rules in major hubs push markets for zero emission trucks, cargo handling equipment, and cleaner industrial heat across the country. These rules also generate data and legal precedent that support stronger Environmental Protection Agency standards later.

States and utility regulators

States set greenhouse gas targets and pass laws that require cleaner electricity such as a Renewable Portfolio Standard or a Clean Electricity Standard. They update building codes and BPS, adopt appliance standards, regulate methane and industrial emissions, and manage siting for energy projects. States deploy funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, often written as IIJA and IRA. Many run green banks and use public purchasing through Buy Clean programs that prefer lower carbon materials.

Public Utility Commissions and Public Service Commissions, often shortened to PUCs and PSCs, regulate utilities. They approve resource plans, transmission and distribution upgrades, interconnection reforms, demand side programs, and rates. Early state action proves feasibility and lowers costs. PUC decisions unlock large clean power builds and improve reliability, which reduces national prices and risk for private investors.

Multistate coalitions and agreements

Governor led coalitions such as the United States Climate Alliance and sector agreements on zero emission cars and trucks align targets, timelines, and model policies. Harmonized rules reduce compliance friction, speed replication across states, and signal a stable market to investors and manufacturers.

Interstate regional agencies

Regional Transmission Organizations and Independent System Operators, known as RTOs and ISOs, operate wholesale power markets and plan transmission under the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC. They manage interconnection queues and resource adequacy. Stronger regional transmission, better queue management, and fair rules for storage and demand response enable gigawatt scale clean energy additions across multiple states. These changes lower costs for wide areas and make federal standards easier to implement.

Interstate carbon and fuel markets also create durable price signals. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, caps power sector carbon dioxide across several Northeast and Mid Atlantic states and invests allowance revenue in clean energy and efficiency. The Western Climate Initiative links California and Qu├ębec in a cap and trade system that covers multiple sectors. Low Carbon Fuel Standard programs, or LCFS, in California, Oregon, and Washington create credits for lower carbon fuels and for electricity used in transportation. Shared methods for measuring emissions and credits let firms operate at multi state scale and provide evidence that informs future federal rules.

Coalition of “Section 177” states

Under Section 177 of the Clean Air Act, states can adopt California vehicle emission standards after the Environmental Protection Agency grants California a waiver. These programs include Advanced Clean Cars II for light duty zero emission vehicle sales and Advanced Clean Trucks for medium and heavy duty sales. When many states adopt these programs without change, their combined market share creates a national trajectory for zero emission vehicles in practice. Automakers and fleet operators then plan and invest on a national basis, which supports stronger Environmental Protection Agency standards later.

Why subnational action matters

It accelerates scale and speed because local, regional, and state programs can move before federal rules arrive. It lowers costs because public procurement, utility programs, and regional power markets create steady demand that pulls down prices for vehicles, chargers, heat pumps, storage, and clean power. It protects public health because air and transportation actions reduce NOx and fine particles where burdens are highest. It builds the technical and legal record that federal agencies need to issue durable nationwide standards. It strengthens economic competitiveness because coordinated subnational demand anchors domestic supply chains and skilled jobs. It also preserves momentum if federal policy pauses because state and local action keeps progress moving.

Local codes and BPS spark demand for clean buildings and fleets. Intrastate regional agencies focus that demand at freight hubs and along major corridors and translate it into real projects and service. State laws and PUC decisions scale clean power and building electrification while deploying IIJA and IRA funds. Interstate agencies unlock transmission, fair market access, and consistent carbon and fuel signals, which lowers costs across many states. Multi state coalitions and Section 177 adoption align methods and timelines so companies face consistent expectations across very large markets. Federal agencies can then lift and lock in these proven approaches through nationwide standards.

Subnational action is the engine that turns goals into markets, turns markets into standards, and turns standards into durable national progress.

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Primer on local government

Local communities are served by one or more local government agency (e.g., municipality, county government, and school, transit, and water districts). 

Local governments:

  • Deliver essential day-to-day services like emergency response, transportation, water, wastewater, waste management, and the provision of shared public places like parks, recreation centers, and libraries;
  • Plan and solve common problems around public safety, land use and zoning, permitting, budgeting, and the levying of taxes and fees;
  • Coordinate with neighboring jurisdictions and other outside partners;
  • Represent residents to higher levels of government and other entities: and
  • Provide an elected government with democratic processes that is typically closest to people

Local governments have some important differences compared to their federal and state counterparts. For one, they possess specialized authority to manage land use, transportation, buildings, public health, and emergency preparation and response, all key building blocks for climate solutions and quality of life in communities.

They also operate differently. What they are able to accomplish, and what they are not, is constrained by personnel bandwidth and management practices to a higher degree than higher jurisdictions. 

By extension, mic governments can be inhibited by processes of change and disruption, which tend to require involvement from legal, public engagement, and coordination across multiple departments.

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High-reward climate action: Safe streets

When people think of climate solutions, the mind often goes to things that need be installed: Solar and wind, battery storage, building retrofits, tree planting, and carbon removal. All are essential.

Yet a powerful, fast-payback lever hides in plain sight: designing streets for safety. Safer streets cut emissions directly and acts as a force multiplier for transportation decarbonization—one of the largest sources of climate pollution in many countries and an area where progress must accelerate.

Safe streets unlock “avoid and shift,” the fastest path to lower transportation emissions. The biggest gains come first from avoiding car trips through better land use, then from shifting remaining trips to walking, cycling, and transit.

Avoiding and shifting multiply what is possible with vehicle improvements by reducing the number and length of car trips before technology even enters the picture.

Safety is the skeleton key that lets avoid and shift scale in transportation—and it delivers unusually strong returns on investment. Compared with large capital projects, quick-build safety upgrades, protected bike networks, safer crossings, and bus priority can be delivered rapidly, save lives immediately, reduce vehicle miles traveled, and unlock further climate benefits. This is not marginal action; it is a force multiplier that climate advocates should prioritize.

Bicycling and walking

Research shows that most people’s relationship with a bicycle for transportation is that they are “interested” but concerned that the risks and stress are too much. They’re open to bicyling and walking if it feels safe and convenient, but not if it feels exposed or confusing.

Perceived safety governs behavior. That means physical protection from fast traffic, lower speeds where people move, frequent and visible crossings, lighting, and predictable intersections. Where cities reduce vehicle speeds and add protected bike lanes and continuous sidewalks, injuries fall and the share of trips by foot and bike rises. As more people use these facilities, drivers expect them and everyone gets safer. This is how shift happens at scale.

Public transit

Safe streets enable transit in turn. Every rider is a pedestrian for part of the trip. If it is hard to cross to a stop, if the stop lacks lighting or a curb, or if the last block home has no sidewalk, the experience is unacceptable. Safer crossings, traffic calming on transit corridors, and priority for buses at signals make the whole trip safe and trustworthy, which builds ridership and reduces crashes at the same time.

Transit also creates a feedback loop: Per passenger mile, the mode is safer than driving for everyone. Vehicles are larger and driven by trained professionals, and each bus or train replaces many cars, which reduces conflicts on the street. Good transit also gives people who should not drive a better option. Teens, older adults, people with certain medical conditions, and anyone who is tired have a safe alternative when service is frequent and reliable.

Transit upgrades are also high-ROI: modest signal changes, dedicated lanes, and safer stop access can deliver large travel-time and safety gains at a fraction of the cost of roadway widening.

Efficient vehicles, electric and otherwise

Safe streets also enable smaller, lighter vehicles—and help end the arms race toward bigger and heavier ones. Lower-speed networks, traffic calming, and separated facilities make compact cars, neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs), and microcars practical for everyday travel. In many jurisdictions, NEVs can operate on lower-speed streets; when those streets are designed for safety, households can right-size to vehicles that consume far less energy and pose less risk to others.

This reverses the trend toward ever-larger vehicles driven by high-speed, high-volume roads and crash incompatibility. Designing for safe, lower speeds makes small, efficient vehicles viable, which further reduces emissions, space needs, and crash severity.

And it matters even for electric: When considering the overall vehicle fleet, a proportion that is meaingfully smaller and lighter corresponds to a meaingfully lower GHG footprint. It also means fewer materials and resources for electrification are needed per vehicle, which has an additional effect in aggregate. Finally, a more circumspect average vehicle profile is safer for those traveling outside vehicle cabins, like walkers and cyclists, which in large numbers induces more of the lightest travel of all.

Compact, human-centered neighborhoods

Compact, mixed-use neighborhoods reduce daily travel needs so people can reach most essentials with short trips. A connected street network, homes near jobs and schools, and local services within a short walk or ride lower vehicle miles traveled across the entire community.

That cuts emissions and makes streets safer, because shorter trips on calmer streets mean fewer high-speed impacts. Children can reach a park without crossing a five-lane road. An older neighbor can get to a cafe without a long drive. People using mobility aids can count on accessible paths. Safety becomes part of daily life rather than a personal burden.

The wider built environment

Crucially, the same choices that make streets safer also produce a more resource‑efficient, resilient built environment. Designing for compact, walkable places concentrates activity where efficient, electrified buildings and infrastructure perform best.

Shorter distances and attached or smaller homes reduce heating and cooling loads, making heat pumps and building electrification more cost‑effective.

Mixed-use, human‑scaled districts support district energy and shared infrastructure, lower peak electricity demand, and improve the economics of rooftop solar, storage, and demand flexibility.

Denser, walkable street grids cut materials use per capita, reduce stormwater runoff with less paved area per person, and shorten utility extensions—saving public money while boosting resilience to heat, outages, and extreme weather.

In other words, safe streets do double duty: they accelerate transportation decarbonization and strengthen the broader clean‑energy transition across buildings and grids.

In sum, improved vehicles and fuels are necessary but not sufficient. Heavier vehicles can increase the harm in crashes and crowd out the space needed for people outside cars. When streets feel safe, households can right-size travel: walk for a half mile, use a bike or e‑bike for a few miles, take a bus or train for longer trips, and use a car when it is the best tool for the job. This pattern cuts emissions faster and reduces risk right away. It also reduces the scale of infrastructure and energy systems needed for full decarbonization, improving the return on every dollar invested in electrification and clean power.

The benefits of this pathway are wide and personal. Health improves when more people can safely walk or bike for short trips. Cleaner air reduces asthma and heart disease. Most important, fewer families experience the grief and lifelong injury that follow serious crashes.

Freedom expands as more people can travel without a car. A 12‑year‑old can bike to a friend’s house. An 82‑year‑old can cross to a pharmacy. A parent can let a child walk to school without fear. Households save money when they can own fewer and smaller vehicles.

Towns and cities save money when safer street designs reduce crashes and when compact, multimodal infrastructure costs less to build and maintain than endless lanes that must be widened again and again. For climate advocates focused on impact per dollar and speed of deployment, safe streets deliver exceptional returns now and set the stage for every other climate solution to work better.

Unlock the multipliers of avoid and shift with safety. Lower speeds where people live and shop. Build connected, protected networks for walking and cycling. Fix crossings to make them frequent and visible. Invest in frequent, reliable transit and safe access to every stop. Plan for mixed uses and connected streets. These steps cut emissions, save lives, expand freedom, strengthen the clean‑energy transition in buildings and grids, and save money. Safe streets are high‑ROI climate action—and a catalyst for more.

References

Dill, J., and McNeil, N. (2013). Four Types of Cyclists? Examination of a Typology for Better Understanding of Bicycling Behavior. Transportation Research Record. https://doi.org/10.3141/2387-01

Teschke, K., et al. (2012). Route Infrastructure and the Risk of Injuries to Bicyclists. American Journal of Public Health. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2012.300762

Litman, T. (2021). A New Transit Safety Narrative. Victoria Transport Policy Institute. https://www.vtpi.org/safer.pdf

Ewing, R., and Cervero, R. (2010). Travel and the Built Environment. Journal of the American Planning Association. https://doi.org/10.1080/01944361003766766

FHWA (2021). Safe System Approach. Federal Highway Administration. https://highways.dot.gov/safety/zero-deaths/safe-system-approach

IPCC (2022). Climate Change 2022 Mitigation of Climate Change. Working Group III contribution. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/

PNAS (2025). Global health and climate benefits from walking and cycling. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2422334122

UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies (2025). Active travel study identifies pathways for walking and cycling friendly cities. UCLA ITS. https://www.its.ucla.edu/2025/06/09/active-travel-study-identifies-pathways-for-walking-cycling-friendly-cities/

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Efficiency improvements through electric vehicles: You don’t know the half of it

Electrifying transportation seems like magic because the core machine is so much better at turning energy into motion.

A typical electric drivetrain is about three times as efficient as a gasoline one, and it runs on a fuel that can steadily move toward being 100% renewable and carbon-free.

EVs bring other benefits too, like quiet streets and low maintenance, but the headline is simple. Its superpower is efficiency. We are talking about roughly 0.27 kWh per mile for a mid-size EV, equivalent to about 125 MPG.

That gap alone is enough to deeply cut emissions as the grid cleans up. Yet there is another side to efficiency that most people miss.

The way most of us travel day to day is overbuilt for the job. One person, often alone, moving at low average speeds through city streets in a 3,000 to 5,000+ lb vehicle.

Most of the energy goes to pushing a heavy machine and a lot of air, not to moving a human body. On a typical urban trip, about 95% of the energy moves the vehicle, and only about 5% moves the person.

That is not a moral judgment. It is physics.

When you repeatedly accelerate two tons in stop-and-go traffic, you spend energy on mass. When you cruise with a large frontal area, you spend energy on drag. Either way, the human is the smallest part of the payload.

The battery-electric revolution opens the door to right-sized electric mobility that flips this ratio. Electric motors scale beautifully. They are compact, efficient, and happy at many sizes.

That is why we now have an entire family of vehicles that can deliver a full trip at a fraction of the energy. Think e-scooters, e-bikes and cargo bikes, mopeds, compact city EVs, and neighborhood electric vehicles. The savings are not subtle.

A typical e-bike uses about 10 to 20 Wh per mile. At the U.S. average residential electricity price, that is well under one cent per mile. A small neighborhood EV might use 80 to 150 Wh per mile, still many times less than a full-size car.

Compare that with a gasoline sedan at around 1,100 Wh per mile worth of fuel energy, or even a mid-size EV at about 250 to 300 Wh per mile, and the order-of-magnitude difference becomes clear.

Right-sizing brings other gains. Smaller electric vehicles need smaller batteries, which lowers cost and materials demand. They can charge from an ordinary outlet overnight. Parking gets easier. Streets get calmer. Air gets cleaner where people live.

These are resilience benefits as well. A household with a mix of light electric options can keep moving even during fuel disruptions, and a car with a modest battery can backstop outages at home with vehicle-to-load gear. Cities that shift short trips to light electric modes need less space and less money to move more people.

None of this argues against the mainstream EV. For many trips, a conventional car is the right tool, and replacing a gasoline car with an electric one cuts energy use by a factor of three or four before you account for the grid’s ongoing shift to renewables. It is simply that our efficiency story is incomplete if it stops at the car-for-car swap. The lowest-cost, lowest-carbon, and most space-efficient miles will often be ridden, not driven.

The good news is we are already living in this future. Most urban trips are short enough for light electric mobility. In the United States, roughly half of all trips are under three miles. That is e-bike territory for many people and many days, with weather gear and cargo options making it practical for more. Cities that add safe networks for small vehicles see rapid uptake, because the product is compelling. It is fun, fast enough, cheap to run, and simple to maintain.

If you want a simple mental model, use this. Electrification gives you a big step up in efficiency at any vehicle size. Downsizing gives you another. Stack them and you get both deep decarbonization and better daily life. We can triple drivetrain efficiency by moving from internal combustion to electric. We can multiply total-system efficiency again by choosing the smallest electric that does the job. The result is cleaner air, lower costs, quieter streets, and far less energy burned to move the same person from A to B.

So by all means celebrate the conventional electric car. It is a workhorse and a crucial climate tool. Then look at the rest of the electric toolbox and pick the right size for the job. The fastest way to win on energy and money is to electrify, and then right-size.

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Let’s create *more*

A big untapped source of potential climate action is public-oriented infrastructure and other initiatives that improve well-being and make life better.

And one of the ways public-mission professionals can achieve greater impact is to use their capabilities to drive win-win, concrete results for the climate movement.

For changemakers all around, there are incredible opportunities to focus on the things that advance crucial climate action and make life better together.

Moreworks is here to help explore, lead, and assist in that endeavor.

Watch here to see knowledge resources for changemakers to unfold.

Inquiries about working other are most welcome at the contact page.