Vermont is at an elevated risk for climate-related natural disasters. According to the Atlas of Disaster, a nonprofit which maps federal disaster declarations for counties across the U.S., Vermont had over 25 climate-disaster declarations between 2011 and 2024 alone. Year after year, we’ve seen homes destroyed in summer floods, and Vermonters pay thousands in recovery costs. According to the Atlas, Vermonters pay the 4th highest per capita costs for disaster recovery in the nation. Meanwhile, according to the National Institute of Building Sciences, every $1 spent on mitigating climate disaster saves taxpayers $6.
Given our increased exposure to climate-related threats, VNRC works to hold the polluters who have wreaked havoc on our environment accountable for the damage their products have caused. VNRC also works with planners, state partners, community leaders and others to develop and implement resilience strategies to protect our state from this insurgent threat and to stave off the cost pressures of recovery from severe weather events.
The Climate Superfund Act
As Vermont grapples with the increasing physical and financial impacts of a changing climate, including floods, fires, and droughts, the 2024 Climate Superfund Act represents a significant step forward in ensuring that responsible parties – companies like ExxonMobil and Shell that have known for decades that their products are disrupting the climate – are required to pay a fair share of the cleanup costs. The recent and increasing catastrophic flooding in Vermont has already resulted in estimates of more than $1 billion in damages – and the costs of climate disruption are only forecasted to go up in the future.
The Climate Superfund Act requires the State Treasurer and Agency of Natural Resources to play key roles in implementing the law, including compiling a detailed report assessing the financial impact of fossil fuel emissions from 1995 to 2024. This effort will take into account the costs of climate change that have already been incurred and future costs for adaptation, mitigation, and damages. The law would then provide funding for disaster response and climate change adaptation projects in the state, including nature-based solutions and flood protections, upgrading stormwater drainage systems, making proactive upgrades to roads, bridges, railroads, and transit systems, and more.
Resilience and the Resilience Implementation Strategy
Helping Vermont communities prepare for and respond to the impacts of a warming world – devastating floods and droughts, increased tick- and mosquito-borne diseases, degraded water quality and far more – is critical. That work must happen at multiple levels: locally, regionally and through state policy and programmatic solutions. VNRC works from the local level to the Legislature on various resilience-based solutions and strategies.
Another significant resilience-focused endeavor underway is a joint initiative of the Governor, the Vermont Treasurer, and the Vermont Climate Action Office, which is working to develop a Resilience Implementation Strategy (RIS). Check out the 2025 RIS plan, which outlines the necessary steps and projects needed to make Vermont more resilient to climate impacts.
Municipal Climate Change Vulnerability Indicators Tool
The Municipal Vulnerability Indicators Tool (MVI) is a mapping tool to help municipalities understand their vulnerabilities to climate change across several social, economic, and environmental factors. The MVI can help Vermont communities identify where climate change is placing pressure on transportation, electrical grid, housing, emergency services, communications infrastructure, and more. This tool can inform towns’ hazard mitigation plans, local energy plans, or other climate-related efforts. Other tools exist, as well, including VNRC’s Community Planning Toolbox and technical assistance efforts, which are designed to support good planning and resilience-based practices at the local level. To learn more about resources that VNRC – or other partners – might provide your community, reach out with questions or ideas to info@vnrc.org. To find out more about what we do, be sure to sign up for VNRC’s E-Newsletter to stay tuned into the latest news, events, resources and opportunities for enhancing state and community resilience.