Suggested Citation:
Wheeler, Stephen M. (2008) State and Municipal Climate Change Plans: The First Generation. Journal of the American Planning Association 74 (4), 481 - 496

In recent years, climate change has emerged as one of the main challenges facing planning in the 21^st century, and one of the core obstacles to sustainable development generally. The challenge is two-fold: to plan for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions so as to avoid dangerous climate change, and to plan for adapting to a changing climate. Although a few U.S. states and cities adopted policies related to climate change in the late 1980s and early 1990s, these pioneers often either simply initiated study of the issue or targeted a few selected sources of emissions. Climate change planning accelerated in the mid-to-late 1990s, with jurisdictions adopting more comprehensive plans to reduce emissions. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency made grants available to many states during this period to inventory GHG emissions.

Keywords: climate change, global warming, state planning, municipal planning, sustainable development