What Can We Do About Sea Level Rise?

Multiple Strategies NeededMultiple Strategies Are Needed To Reduce Impacts From Sea Level Rise

In order to manage the impacts from sea level rise, individuals, coastal communities, and governments will need to explore different ways to cope with rising seas. Mitigation strategies work by reducing the root cause of the problem. In this case, that means reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Adaptation strategies work by modifying existing things to lessen impacts from a problem. Examples of these include building resilient homes and infrastructure, restoring natural barriers, and enhancing emergency preparedness.

Explore some actions below that can be taken at the individual and local levels.

For IndividualsStrategies For Individuals

• Define Your Personal Risk Tolerance - Every person and family will have their own risk tolerance. Defining your personal risk tolerance is independent from assessing the climate or hazard risk to your property. Consider factors like your family's health status and healthcare needs, financial security, and adaptation capacity, including insurance coverage (e.g. homeowners, flood, and renters) and the ability to relocate if necessary.
• Consider If Your Home or Business May Be Vulnerable to Flooding - Identify areas in your home or business that are at risk now and in the future such as, critical low lying infrastructure (e.g. below ground basement living space, HVAC units, electrical panels, septic systems, and plumbing backflow valves) and valuable or irreplaceable items (e.g. cars, boats, generators, business inventory and assets, documents, family photos, machinery, and tools) that may be susceptible to flooding due to sea level rise. In addition to flooding, associated coastal hazards like erosion and elevated groundwater levels should also be taken into consideration depending on your property and location.
• Explore Mitigation and Adaptation Actions - Once you determine you and your family’s risk tolerance and property vulnerability to impacts from sea level rise, you can start thinking about what solutions would make your home and family more resilient to those impacts.
  • Mitigation: To reduce your personal greenhouse gas emissions, potential actions include transitioning to renewable energy sources like solar and wind; improving energy efficiency in your home, vehicles, and appliances; and using public transportation, cycling, and walking to travel.
  • Adaptation: Coastal residents can prepare for future impacts by making their homes more resilient, including installing efficient drainage systems; elevating or flood-proofing homes or HVAC elements; using nature-based solutions to reduce runoff and local flooding; or even relocating if you live in a highly vulnerable area.
• Engage Actively with Your Community Leaders - Local governments and decision-makers often provide opportunities for feedback on plans for mitigating and adapting the community to impacts from sea level rise. Participate in these opportunities through submitting written comments or attending local meetings as an opportunity to apply the science-based sea level information you learned here. If your community is not actively engaging with community members on this issue, request that they do in the future.
• View additional resources to help make informed decisions about sea level rise.

For Decision-Makers, Leaders and PlannersStrategies for Local and Regional Decision-Makers, Community Leaders, Planners

• Application Guide for the 2022 Sea Level Rise Technical Report - This report was designed specifically to help local and regional decision-makers, community leaders, and planners understand and apply the scientific sea level information found on this site and in the technical report to local planning and adaptation decisions.
• Explore Mitigation and Adaptation Actions - Considering different mitigation and adaptation actions will be necessary for communities to respond to the impacts from sea level rise.
  • Mitigation: As greenhouse gas emissions are the driver of sea level rise, they are also the key to slowing it down. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions moving forward will help limit the total rise in sea level that coastal communities will face. Emissions can be reduced in several ways, including:
    1. Transitioning to renewable energy sources, like solar, wind, hydropower, and clean hydrogen;
    2. Improving energy efficiency in buildings, vehicles, and appliances;
    3. Promoting sustainable agriculture and forestry practices;
    4. Encouraging public transportation, cycling, and walking.
    5. Additionally, natural coastal habitats, such as mangrove forests, wetlands, and seagrasses play an important role in removing carbon dioxide from the air. Conserving and restoring these habitats will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions slowly over time.
  • Adaptation: Coastal communities can prepare for the changes to come by increasing their resilience to sea level rise. Methods include:
    1. Building resilient infrastructure, such as higher elevation buildings, installing drainage systems that can handle more water, and utilizing protect in place strategies when necessary;
    2. Restoring and conserving natural barriers, such as sand dunes, wetlands, and mangroves;
    3. Exploring nature-based solutions, that bring together traditional engineering approaches with natural processes to bolster natural landscape protections;
    4. Using climate-smart urban planning that takes into account future potential sea level rise in zoning, building codes, and engineering and design;
    5. Enhancing emergency preparedness by factoring in sea level rise to their plans;
    6. Investing in research and monitoring of local sea level rise to inform urban planning;
    7. Supporting community education to raise awareness about sea level rise and community solutions;
    8. Providing resources to support community-led efforts to relocate vulnerable homes, infrastructure, or even entire communities out of harm’s way when needed and wanted by community members.
• View additional resources to help make informed decisions about sea level rise.

Federal Agency ResponseWhat Are Federal Agencies Doing About Sea Level Rise?

Nationwide the Federal Government is taking numerous steps to evaluate risk, address current hazards, and prepare for future sea level rise. Federal climate leadership, through policy and example, integrates climate change adaptation actions across agency mission, operations, and assets to increase the Nation’s climate resilience and adaptive capacity. This requires integrating climate risk into agency strategic planning, governance, oversight, financial management, and acquisitions.

In October 2021, federal agencies released Climate Adaptation Plans, with updated versions released in June 2024 to:

• Combine historical and forward-looking data to assess exposure of assets to extreme heat and precipitation, sea level rise, flooding, and wildfire;
• Expand the operational focus on managing climate risk to facilities and supply chains to include Federal employees and Federal lands and waters;
• Broaden the mission focus to describe mainstreaming adaptation into agency policies, programs, planning and budget formulation, and funding;
• Link climate adaptation actions with other Administration priorities, including environmental justice, strengthening engagement with Tribal Nations, advancing the America the Beautiful initiative, scaling up nature-based solutions, and addressing the causes of climate change through climate mitigation; and
• Adopt common adaptation progress indicators across agencies, recently developed by the Council on Environmental Quality in collaboration with Federal agencies.

View Climate Adaptation Plans for any agency by clicking their name or logo at Sustainability.gov's Federal Progress, Plans, and Performance.