Leading a Cluster of Climate Leaders Across the Great Lakes to Rapidly Scale-up Sustainable Stormwater Infrastructure

Funded by the Great Lakes Protection Fund (GLPF), ECT founded and has led Resilient Infrastructure & Sustainable Communities (RISC) since 2020. RISC is a cluster of public and private sector leaders focused on climate resiliency via delivery and finance of market-based green stormwater infrastructure across the Great Lakes region. Comprised of municipal, state, and federal climate resilience leaders, the cluster leverages its common network and shared experience. It offers a framework to lead to projects that improve water quality, climate resiliency, and positive socio-economic impacts. RISC is about scaling-up green stormwater infrastructure across the Great Lakes states.

RISC’s objectives include:

• Build a lasting network of public and private sector leaders from across the Great Lakes.
• Quantify climate risk and opportunities across the Great Lakes.
• Identify priority regions where the need and readiness for investment is high.
• Reduce costs of large-scale sustainable stormwater infrastructure development.
• Share and establish best practices for policy development, project delivery, financing, program, and asset management.
• Help execute $10M+ investments that lead to improved water quality and more green neighborhoods across the region.

ECT has already attracted over twenty cities to the Cluster, including Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Chicago, South Bend, Grand Rapids, Southfield, Merrillville, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Ann Arbor. The team is also credited with over $100M in green stormwater infrastructure investments in two communities.

RISC’s project team has published numerous thought leadership reports including:

• A Design Guide for Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) Best Management Practices (BMPs)
• Climate Risks and Opportunities in the Great Lakes Region
• Paying for Water Quality Improvements and Resilience in the Great Lakes

For RISC, ECT’s teaming partners include Chicago-based The Delta Institute, London-based Climate Disclosure Project (CDP), Chicago-based Center for Neighborhood Technology, Bay-area based HIP Invester, and Ann Arbor area based American Society of Adaptation Professionals, among others.