A summary of potential impacts of climate change on natural resources in Delaware is available through Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. The Delaware Climate Change Consortium, a body of representatives from government, business, labor, environmental and community-based organizations adopted a greenhouse emissions reduction target for Delaware of 7% below the state’s 1990 emissions by the year 2010. Subsequently, the DCCC worked with the University of Delaware to develop the Delaware Climate Action Plan in 2000. In this Action Plan, the DCCC has developed a set of policy options that can reduce Delaware’s greenhouse gas emissions by 7% below the 1990 level. This amounts to a decrease of almost 25% in State emissions by 2010. The project's primary goals were:

  1. to identify cost-effective opportunities for reducing Delaware’s greenhouse gas emissions
  2. to raise the awareness of climate change
  3. to create an action plan with practical, analytically-based strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Subsequently, Executive Order 18, Leading by Example Towards a Clean Energy Economy & Sustainable Natural Environment, was signed by Governor Markell on February 17, 2010.  The order requires state agencies to take actions to address energy conservation and efficiency, use of renewable energy, environmentally responsible construction, recycling, clean transportation and environmentally sensitive procurement.

  • Climate Change and the Delaware Estuary
    In 2008, The Partnership for the Delaware Estuary (PDE) was selected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to carry out one of six pilot programs in the nation for developing a strategy to adapt to climate change as part of the Climate Ready Estuari
  • Climate Change: Impacts and Responses in the Delaware River Basin
    A University of Pennsylvania report examining the escalating threat of climate change in the Delaware River Basin in order to highlight its regional consequences and inform policy and design interventions. By modeling the effects of sea level rise, floodi
  • Interactive Map of Climate Change in the Chesapeake Bay
    A map of the Chesapeake Bay including the impacts of sea level rise and storm surge predictions as a result of future climate change.