Our environment plays an essential role in ensuring the health and well-being of the region, but climate change has already begun to transform the region in ways that threaten its health, sustainability, equity and prosperity.

The coastline is shifting inward. Homes, businesses, critical infrastructure and ecosystems are more prone to flooding. By 2050, more than two million people and 60 percent of the region’s power-generating capacity, as well as dozens of miles of critical roads and rail lines, will face a high risk of flooding—some of it permanently under water. The number of days of extreme heat, which are far more threatening to human life than any other impact of climate change, will multiply by five.

We must accelerate efforts to both adapt to climate change and address its root cause by dramatically reducing the region’s greenhouse gas emissions. That means investing in critical infrastructure, making communities more livable and less vulnerable, and enhancing natural systems like wetlands and forests. Doing so will not only mitigate the impact of storms and heat, but also create a new relationship with nature that will improve the health and well-being of residents, now and in the future. In order to adapt fairly, we must have stable streams of funding and community-informed plans that do not repeat the injustices of past policies. We must focus on policies, investments and regional land use decisions that address the climate crisis without triggering other crises of equity, affordability or economic decline.

And even as we adapt, we must aggressively reduce our greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. This means shifting away from fossil fuels for electric power, transportation and heating and cooling, including the eventual phase-out and transformation of infrastructure that supports this now-predominant source of fuel. This represents an opportunity to build a new, thriving, fair, and sustainable economy that serves as a model for metropolitan regions worldwide.