Equity and Efficiency in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Adaptation Investments
Public funding for adaptation to climate change seeks to be both equitable and efficient. We evaluate adaptation funding allocated in the US by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which is under the Justice40 Initiative. We find that, net of controls, the funding disbursed to Census tracts does not increase with recent damages from natural hazards, with a prominent projection of future climate damages, or with the poverty rate. Reallocating funding to disadvantaged Census tracts may better target tracts with ongoing exposure to natural hazards but may not improve targeting of tracts with projected exposure to future climate damages. We discuss tradeoffs among different mechanisms for allocating adaptation funds. In practice, competitive grants target high-poverty Census tracts better than does discretionary spending by either state or federal governments.