Speakers to focus on funding, financing climate resilient communities

Sep. 18—NEWBURYPORT — Storm Surge will host its final Speaker Series program this fall, "Funding and Financing Climate Resilient Communities", at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 28, in person at the Senior Community Center and virtually on Zoom.

Anyone interested in this free program should register in advance at https://storm-surge.org. All COVID-19 protocols will be followed.

Joanne Throwe and Dan Nees of Throwe Environmental LLC, are the featured speakers. Throwe Environmental is a partner organization in the Southeast New England Program Network and Field Liaisons for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's National Coastal Resilience Fund, according to a press release.

Throwe and Nees will share examples on how cities on the East Coast have approached the challenge of moving from a resiliency plan to funded projects. The pair will share information on tools and processes that can identify criteria for funding, and potential financing options, and will discuss communities that are considering how to implement and fund climate resilience-focused projects.

The presenters will also highlight one of the tools and resources they are using to guide their work — the Planning to Action: Climate Toolkit (PACT). Attendees will learn about a practical framework for approaching climate funding and financing and how to take the first steps towards becoming more climate resilient.

Throwe, president of Throwe Environmental, has served as an environmental policy and finance expert in a variety of capacities for over 20 years, including as deputy secretary for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, chair of the EPA Environmental Financial Advisory Board, and director at the University of Maryland Environmental Finance Center.

Nees is a project partner at Throwe Environmental, and a senior fellow with the Center for Global Sustainability (CGS) at the University of Maryland. Prior to his tenure at CGS, he was the director of the university's Environmental Finance Center. He has more than 20 years of experience assisting communities in their efforts to finance environmental and sustainable development initiatives.

Throwe and Nees will be joined by Sanjay Seth and Michael Sanduski after the presentation for a panel discussion and question and answer session. Seth is the Climate Resilience Program manager for the city of Boston. Sanduski is a master in public policy candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School and concurrent MBA candidate at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. This past spring he worked with a team of students from the Harvard Kennedy School on a framework for prioritizing resiliency projects in Newburyport and Salem.

Storm Surge has presented five programs since May, covering topics related to Newburyport's resiliency plan. Videos of prior programs are available on the event archive page of the Storm Surge website https://www.storm-surge.org/event-archive

Storm Surge will share questions from community members with the panel in advance of the program. Send questions to storm-surge9@gmail.com.