A new report suggests the time is right for Georgia to create a state office aimed at planning for the effects of climate change.

But the words “climate change” hardly appear in the report released Aug. 4 by the University of Georgia’s Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems (IRIS) and the Pew Trusts.

Echoing suggestions in a report prepared for state lawmakers in late 2024 after the devastating storms Debby and Helene, it calls for Georgia to improve its efforts at “resilience” and highlights what neighboring South Carolina is doing at its Office of Resilience.

As it relates to climate change, resilience means mitigating and recovering from flooding, drought, extreme temperatures, wildfires and other natural disasters.

But it doesn’t address “climate change” per se.

That’s what Eric Fossmeyer, the director of the South Carolina Office of Resilience, calls “the elephant in the room.”

“The word ‘climate change’ has been so politicized,” Fossmeyer said. “And we just encourage folks to approach it from an apolitical position.”

Speaking during a workshop addressing the report before it was released, Fossmeyer stressed that the data is clear about the frequency of natural disasters.

The report said that Georgia already has experienced more major natural disasters in the past five years than in the two preceding decades.

“Those disasters affect everybody,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what your political party is. It doesn’t matter what your race is. It affects everybody. And that became a real selling point for our resilience planning effort.”

• Full report available to read at end of this story

Who would need to be sold on resilience in Georgia? State lawmakers, for one.

The General Assembly would have to authorize and fund a resilience office, while also funding other priorities.

South Carolina’s Office of Resilience costs the that state $126 million a year, according to its fiscal year 2025-2026 budget, although $40 million of that amount appears to be one-time expenditures related to Hurricane Helene.

The report suggests that spending on resilience prevents disaster recovery in the future.

“The cumulative cost of disaster recovery continues to far exceed the upfront costs of proactive investments in hazard mitigation,” the report said.

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, for every dollar spent on resilience, governments save $13 in disaster recovery.

Some examples of resilience spending include stormwater improvement projects, buying out homes in areas that flood repeatedly, and investing in human jobs required to coordinate everything involved in resilience.

Data is a key concern for Fossmeyer.

He said that while billions of dollars are being invested into stormwater and other infrastructure projects, they’re based on storm data and other data that’s long out-of-date.

But good data requires funding and some entity to make it happen.

“There is a strong desire or appetite for state level leadership and coordination,” director of IRIS Brian Bledsoe said at the same workshop.

He said he based that opinion on the 15 virtual and in-person meetings that IRIS held across the state to prepare the report.

“Things are at a critical juncture here in Georgia where the elements seem to be in place and it’s time to bring together the scattered pieces in a cohesive way,” he said.

The 2024 Georgia House of Representatives report recommends that a state Office of Resilience be administratively attached to the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency.

The IRIS-Pew report doesn’t get that specific on how lawmakers should implement its recommendations.

Its 137 pages, not including footnote titles, contain just a single reference to “climate change” — and it’s in a section that notes the Atlanta Regional Commission’s focus areas for resilience.

Scientists warn that climate change, caused mostly by the burning of fossil fuels, is increasing the frequency and severity of extreme weather.

But while Americans largely believe the government should play a major role in disaster mitigation and recovery, a recent poll shows less consensus about whether the government should be involved in combating climate change.

This story comes to The Current GA through a reporting partnership with GPB News, a non-profit newsroom covering the state of Georgia.

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Type of Story: News

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.