Climate Change Relief For Urban Areas Act Of 2023 - Fall

Team Members: Fatou Kiné Gueye, Shunge (David) Zhang, Caroline Benedetti, Aditya Mistry, Kimberly Liu, Jada Johnson, Maya Williams, Diksha Boken, Yingjie Xu, Wenshuang (Vincy) Wu

This report examines H.R. 2786, the Climate Change Relief for Urban Areas Act of 2023, with a particular focus on the implementation of Section 3, which proposes a pilot grant program for rooftop gardens at public schools in disadvantaged urban communities. The report situates the bill within the broader environmental and social challenges facing U.S. cities, including the urban heat island effect, stormwater runoff, heat-related illness, asthma, and food insecurity. These burdens fall disproportionately on low-income communities and communities of color, where historic disinvestment and redlining have left neighborhoods with limited green space and inadequate environmental infrastructure. The bill seeks to address these inequities through an environmental justice lens by prioritizing communities with low Tree Equity Scores and Garden Equity Scores, using measures such as population density, racial composition, respiratory illness, food sovereignty, and average surface temperature to target support.

The report proposes a program design called SPROUT to guide first-year implementation of the rooftop garden grant program under the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The proposed approach emphasizes the development of the Garden Equity Score, creation of the grant application process, staffing structures, and initial budget allocations needed to launch the program. Rooftop gardens are framed not only as tools to reduce local heat and improve stormwater management, but also as opportunities to enhance environmental education, promote food access, and strengthen community wellbeing in schools located in vulnerable urban neighborhoods. The report concludes that successful implementation will require careful project selection, sustained maintenance support, and strong community engagement, but argues that the bill offers a promising pathway for linking green infrastructure investment with environmental justice and long-term urban climate resilience.

Learn more about the MPA-ESP Workshop in Applied Earth Systems Management.