Cloudburst is driven to achieve sustainable environmental development through a diverse portfolio of projects that promote climate mitigation and adaptation. We lead domestic and international efforts to ensure environmental compliance and foster adaptations needed to respond to climate change. We provide training on environmental regulations, help guide policymaking, and review processes to help our clients comply with environmental laws through in-depth analysis of the physical, biological, and social impacts of their interventions.
As environmental compliance, disaster resilience, and sustainability experts, Cloudburst’s work has integrated climate considerations into domestic and international programming and built oversight capacity of communities across the globe. These efforts have enforced the importance of ensuring that indigenous, vulnerable, and marginalized populations and communities are prioritized in efforts to integrate climate change into resiliency planning and disaster response and recovery. Cloudburst expertise includes:
- Environmental compliance training and policies/procedures development.
- Environmental and social impact assessments.
- Forestry and biodiversity analyses.
- Climate risk screening.
- Event-specific requirements and waivers (unique to each disaster).
- Development of comprehensive recovery strategies.
- Rebuilding to increase resiliency from future disaster events.
- On-demand research and analysis.
Our Impact
Domestic
- Working across HUD, FEMA, CDC, the American Red Cross, and local jurisdictions, Cloudburst has strengthened systems to ensure the nation’s most vulnerable, including the homeless, are prioritized in disaster risk planning and response.
- Supported more than one hundred state and entitlement grantees in using CDBG, CDBG-DR, CDBG-CV, CDBG-MITIGATION, CARES Act, and American Rescue Plan funds to develop comprehensive recovery strategies that focus on rebuilding to increase resilience from future disaster events.
- Produced and developed content for the Web-based Instructional System for Environmental Reviews (WISER), an online curriculum series of 13 modules that teach participants how to conduct environmental reviews for HUD-funded projects.
- Developed tools, webinars, and resources (i.e., user guides, FAQs, and instructional videos) for completing environmental reviews through the HUD Online Environmental Review System (HEROS).
- Managing the HUD Exchange ‘Ask A Question’ portal for Environmental Reviews/HEROS, which receives over 1,000 questions annually. Cloudburst staff triage questions and draft initial responses related to HUD’s environmental process & procedures, requirements, environmental compliance factors, and HEROS.
International
- Lead developer of USAID’s new Sustainable Landscapes Guide that focuses on wildlife protection, coastal resilience, biodiversity loss, sustainable watershed management, forestry management, and payments for ecosystem services.
- Since 2009, Cloudburst has developed, maintained, and enhanced USAID’s Environmental Compliance Database (ECD) and processed over 10,000 environmental compliance documents into the ECD.
- With expertise in 24 CFR Part 58 and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Cloudburst staff have helped dozens of Missions assess environmental impacts, review Biodiversity Analyses, and provide support for Climate Risk Screening.
- Cloudburst assisted the Global Climate Change Office to develop functional requirements to incorporate Climate Risk Screening processes (per ADS 201) into the planned Environmental Compliance System.
- Cloudburst developed leading guidance on social safeguards led by multilateral development banks and other bilateral organizations when managing potential social impacts related to development projects.
Recent Posts from the Environment and Climate Resiliency Team