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Florida—with its vibrant cities, vast coastlines, diversity, and thriving agriculture and tourism industries—draws high numbers of visitors and new residents who help to drive the state’s gross domestic product, which topped $1 trillion in July. If Florida were a nation, it would be the 17th-largest economy in the world.¹ Florida is the nation’s third-most populous state and is fast approaching 21 million people; yet its growth and economic vitality offer only a partial picture of life in the Sunshine State.²

Income inequality is rising as Florida’s population swells. The burdens of extreme weather events and sea level rise, driven by a changing climate, are only getting worse for communities, aging infrastructure, and government and household budgets. More intense hurricanes and flooding damage homes and roads, knock out electricity, threaten public health, and take a bite out of paychecks as well as businesses’ bottom lines. Rising temperatures force families trying to make ends meet to choose between necessities like food or air conditioning. These consequences are hard on Florida residents, the majority of whom live without the financial stability to get by when wages drop, when flooded streets prevent them from getting to work and when medical, home repair, and electricity bills climb in the wake of dangerous hurricanes, floods, and heat waves.³

State leaders will increasingly be confronted with the need to support future-ready communities and infrastructure that is designed to withstand 21st century threats while improving families’ economic stability and protecting the air, water, and natural areas that voters deeply value.⁴ In order to alleviate the pressures of rapid population growth and more extreme weather, state leaders need a comprehensive and sustainable long-term strategy to close the state’s future-ready infrastructure investment gap.

To safeguard Floridians against the impacts of sea level rise and extreme weather, the Center for American Progress and the CLEO Institute recommend that state leaders create a “Florida Future Fund.”⁵ This state fund would use a blend of public and private investment—as well as financing products—to support innovative transportation and energy infrastructure projects and flood protections in areas that need them the most. The fund would provide low-interest or interest-free loans, loan guarantees, and other financing products. It would also leverage philanthropic and private capital in order to expand investment in future-ready infrastructure, including community solar projects, energy efficiency improvements, regional transportation services, public transit upgrades, electric vehicle charging stations, parks, and other community flood protections. These investments would improve Florida’s resilience and quality of life, creating good jobs; lowering energy bills; reducing costly flood damage to homes and businesses; and efficiently connecting people to employment opportunities, child care, schools, and other critical community services.

In sum, the Florida Future Fund offers state leaders a forward-thinking and equitable approach to modernizing the critical infrastructure needed to support the state’s economy, and help communities prepare for the future as extreme weather risks increase and the sea rises.

Floridians are on the front lines of sea level rise, which, when coupled with high tides, more intense downpours, and stronger hurricanes, causes more frequent flooding and higher storm surges.⁶

Florida cities are often named among the most vulnerable to sea level rise globally.⁷ Between 1985 and 2016, the sea level rose six inches around Florida.⁸ This rise has had a measurable impact on communities. From 2006 to 2016, flooding from high tides in Miami Beach has increased by roughly 400 percent.⁹ Some residents in low-lying Florida communities are already starting to change their behavior in order to adapt to more frequent flooding, which is only expected to get worse.¹⁰

Currently, the rate of global sea level rise is four inches or more per decade—a rate that has tripled over the past 10 years.¹¹ Based on this rate, scientists project that over the next 30 years, Florida’s sea level will rise approximately an additional 13 inches.¹² If this rate continues to accelerate, by the end of the century, the sea level around Florida could potentially rise more than six feet.¹³ At this level, numerous Florida communities, like Miami and St. Petersburg, will face chronic flooding and inundation.¹⁴

Floridians also face climbing temperatures and extreme heat waves, making it impossible to depend solely on sea breezes for cooling.¹⁵ This means higher costs for homes and businesses that will now have to install and more frequently use air conditioning systems.

Sea level rise and extreme weather threats increase the strain on Florida’s aging energy, transportation, and water systems as well as on other infrastructure that supports the state’s economy and the daily lives of residents.¹⁶ In the face of a changing climate and growing population, without a massive modernization investment in Florida’s infrastructure, state residents’ prosperity and quality of life will suffer.

Despite the state’s strong gross domestic product and growing economy, Florida has the fifth-highest income inequality among states in the nation and financial instability is commonplace among Florida households.¹⁷ More than 57 percent of Florida residents do not have money set aside in case of an emergency, which ranks them last in the nation for emergency savings.¹⁸ This lack of an emergency cushion means that in the wake of an extreme weather disaster, nearly six out of 10 Floridians may not be able to pay for food, critical health care services, child care, emergency housing, or home repairs without going into debt or falling deeper into poverty.

To make matters worse, nearly 15 percent of Floridians live in poverty.¹⁹ According to the Prosperity Now Scorecard, Florida ranks 42nd among states and the District of Columbia in resident prosperity.²⁰ In other words, many Floridians are liquid asset poor, are unable to pay bills, and cannot afford higher education, health care, or transportation to and from work.²¹

Major storms—like Hurricane Irma—can put even more strain on communities by rendering services and basic infrastructure unavailable. This puts Floridians in tenuous economic, health, and safety situations. In 2017, Irma took 87 lives in Florida, and the storm’s damage cost state agencies and county governments roughly $1.7 billion.²² While some of these expenses will be covered by federal disaster aid, the state and local governments will shoulder a portion of the storm’s financial burden. When hurricanes knock out the power or damage roads, businesses and residents lose money because many workers are unable to get to work, and businesses often must remain closed.²³ Based on insured value, Florida’s coast is the second-most vulnerable to hurricanes among U.S. coastal states.²⁴

Irma caused harmful flooding from north to south, affecting cities such as Jacksonville, Tampa, and Miami.²⁵ Statewide, 3.8 million customers lost power, including in areas that were spared the worst of Irma’s damage—like Tallahassee.²⁶ Power outages in Florida’s subtropical heat can be deadly. In South Florida, 14 nursing home residents died when caretakers left them for 62 hours in rooms that reached 99 degrees after a loss of power caused air conditioning to cut out.²⁷

Unfortunately, blackouts are now more common in the southeastern United States. More frequent and powerful storms damage powerlines, and more customers overburden the grid by turning on air conditioners in order to escape rising temperatures and intense heat waves.²⁸ By as early as 2041, the majority of Florida is expected to see at least 75 more days per year of 95 degrees or higher, compared with its historical climate.²⁹

This high heat will make energy burdens heavier, meaning that the percentage of income households devote to energy bills will increase. Families who live paycheck to paycheck are likely to feel the weightiest increase. According to a study by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, 50 percent of low-income households in major Florida cities have, on average, an energy burden of up to three times the national average.³⁰ This is often because families struggling to make ends meet in Florida live in homes that are old, energy-inefficient, and in need of substantial repairs.³¹

Extreme temperatures can spike energy bills, especially for households living in heat islands—urban neighborhoods where concrete and asphalt surfaces absorb and radiate heat, producing temperatures that are warmer than in surrounding areas.³² Given Florida’s temperature trends, air conditioning can be a lifesaver for children, the elderly, and people with disabilities. Yet, for low-income households, paying higher energy bills to run air conditioning units means having less money available for groceries, rent, health care, and other expenses.³³

In addition, climbing temperatures worsen outdoor air quality and public health, as common air pollutants like ozone concentrate in hot areas.³⁴ Rising temperature trends put pressure on thousands of Floridians living in urban areas that consistently fail air quality standards, such as Tampa, Miami-Dade, Orlando, and St. Petersburg. These failing air quality grades are primarily due to traffic congestion, and they threaten those with respiratory and cardiac conditions.³⁵

Insufficient transportation planning can also exacerbate poor air quality and create significant costs and inconvenience for residents. For example, traffic congestion and delays cost each commuter in Miami and Orlando at least $1,000 annually.³⁶ While modern and efficient public transit can substantially reduce traffic jams and pollution, 98 percent of commuters in Florida do not use public transit because they lack access to reliable, linked, and safe transit services.³⁷ In rural areas, transportation is mainly limited to driving personal vehicles. Therefore, mobility is a major challenge in rural areas where not everyone can afford to own and maintain a vehicle.³⁸

When extreme storms strike, such a lack of mobility options can be a safety issue. Rural communities are sometimes located far from first responders and other key community services. Additionally, due to the legacies of disinvestment and segregation, communities of color in both rural and urban areas can find it particularly difficult to evacuate. If main roads are flooded, individuals from these communities must overcome a lack of safe transportation options and/or a lack of route alternatives with which to evacuate by car.³⁹ For those that can reach transportation, affordability can be a major issue. During the evacuation of Florida ahead of Hurricane Irma, the cost of airline tickets skyrocketed due to high demand.⁴⁰

State leaders can reduce the public health and economic threats of more extreme weather and sea level rise by expanding investment in future-ready energy and transportation systems, flood protections, and other neighborhood improvements.⁴¹

The risks of sea level rise and more intense extreme weather in Florida are exacerbated by aging infrastructure, rapid population growth, and pervasive economic instability. As such, these challenges demand an effective and long-term response from state and local leaders. Currently, state leaders are not investing in deployable technologies and forward-looking solutions to improve Florida’s infrastructure at the pace and level needed to address the state’s challenges.

For example, clean energy and energy efficiency projects can improve energy security and indoor living conditions; transportation upgrades can enhance mobility and reduce local pollution; and tree, wetland, and coastal restoration projects can reduce flooding. Yet public and private investments are often directed toward other priorities rather than cleaner and more innovative projects that reduce climate change threats. As a result, the state has a future-ready infrastructure funding gap, particularly in low-income areas, communities of color, and tribal communities, all of which are already placed at risk and at a severe disadvantage by discriminatory and neglectful past and present public policies and planning decisions.

The state has taken some small first steps to improve the sea level rise and extreme weather readiness of Florida infrastructure. For example, in 2017, Florida leaders approved a spending package with $4 billion devoted to protecting Florida’s beaches, parks, springs, and the iconic Everglades, which can buffer communities from flood waters and storm surges.⁴² This amount included $62 million for beach and coastal restoration statewide; however, only $3.6 million of these funds were devoted to coastal resilience.⁴³ Additionally, state leaders set aside $151 million for bike and pedestrian pathways.⁴⁴

Other successful initiatives in Florida include Florida Forever, the Coastal Partnership Initiative grant program, Resiliency Florida, the Solar and Energy Loan Fund, and the state’s transportation infrastructure bank.⁴⁵ While these efforts make critical investments in land conservation, coastal protections, and water, energy, and transportation resilience, more resources are needed. Though $101 million is allocated in the budget for the Florida Forever conservation program, conservation advocates allege that state leaders have underinvested in the program, putting Florida’s government in noncompliance with a voter-approved 2014 constitutional amendment requiring a specific allotment of annual funding.⁴⁶

In July 2017, the Miami Beach City Commission approved a law that, for the first time in Florida, required new and some remodeled homes to install solar panels.⁴⁷ Increased solar capacity can improve electricity reliability when power lines are damaged during hurricanes and other extreme weather events.⁴⁸ In addition, in April 2018, the PSC issued a ruling that removed a roadblock to rooftop solar leasing programs when it approved a lease by Sunrun.⁴⁹ The ruling is expected to spark growth in the residential solar industry. At the end of 2017, state leaders updated commercial building codes to require more energy-efficient lighting and started several new energy efficiency programs for farming communities.⁵⁰ While these are small steps in the right direction, they will not fill the energy efficiency and solar energy gaps created by a 2014 PSC ruling to reduce statewide energy efficiency goals by 90 percent and end the state solar rebate program.⁵¹ In addition, Florida neither has a comprehensive energy policy nor a renewable portfolio standard (RPS), which requires a specific amount of electricity sold by utilities to come from renewable energy sources. Since 2000, RPSs in 29 states, the District of Columbia, and three U.S. territories have fueled about half of the country’s renewable energy growth.⁵²

Among U.S. states, Florida has the third-highest potential for rooftop solar.⁵³ In 2017, it ranked third among states in solar energy growth.⁵⁴ Despite high demand for solar power, solar makes up less than 1 percent of Florida’s total electricity generation capacity, placing the state 12th nationally in cumulative solar capacity installed, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.⁵⁵ For these reasons, in 2016, Florida voters blocked a utility-sponsored amendment to Florida’s constitution that would have limited rooftop solar expansion.⁵⁶

To address the above opportunities and challenges, state leaders must move quickly to develop a forward-thinking, equitable, and sustainable infrastructure investment strategy that accelerates the clean energy transition and prepares both communities and the economy for long-term extreme weather, sea level rise, and population growth trends. In 2017, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave Florida infrastructure a C grade, and the condition of Florida’s transit system ranks 19th out of all states—just behind Georgia.⁵⁷ State leaders’ current approach may be enough to maintain a passing grade for Florida infrastructure, but it places too much dependency on direct appropriations and the whims of state House politics. For this reason, the state is at risk of continually falling behind in the years to come.

Instead of relying on temporary fixes, Florida leaders must use a long-term strategy to jumpstart future-ready infrastructure solutions that will support a strong, clean, and inclusive economy; improve neighborhood livability; and protect the air, water, and natural areas that voters deeply value.⁵⁸ The majority of Floridians demand a smarter and more forward-thinking response to the state’s pressing infrastructure, sea level rise, and extreme weather challenges.⁵⁹ Florida policymakers have a responsibility to meet this demand.

By building future-ready energy systems, transportation infrastructure, and neighborhood flood protections that can better withstand climate change threats and the demands of a growing population, state leaders can strengthen economic security, improve equity, and protect statewide public health and safety.

Upgrading aging infrastructure that puts communities and local economies at risk in a changing climate must be a top priority for Florida. By creating a Florida Future Fund, state leaders would open up new and innovative financing pathways to modernize Florida’s infrastructure while reducing flooding and extreme weather threats.

The Florida Future Fund would complement ongoing successful initiatives such a. Coastal Partnership Initiative, Resiliency Florida, and others mentioned above. Upon establishing a Florida Future Fund, state leadership could also propose that U.S. Congress pass legislation to help capitalize State Future Funds in every state using federal funds to help modernize infrastructure in Florida and across the nation.⁶⁰ The Federal Green Bank Act of 2017 could provide such a funding source.⁶¹

The Florida Future Fund would improve the mobility of Floridians and reduce local pollution, for example, by making needed investments in transportation sector improvements—including:

• Upgrading and linking regional transportation services
• Modernizing public transit systems
• Installing electric vehicle charging stations
• Deploying electric buses, electric vehicles, and bike-share systems
• Building safe bike and pedestrian paths

To strengthen energy security and affordability in homes, businesses, and communities, the Florida Future Fund would also invest in energy and building sector improvements, for example, by:

• Deploying community solar, rooftop solar, and large-scale renewable energy generation facilities
• Upgrading the power grid
• Building community microgrids and smart grids that incorporate energy storage technologies
• Updating municipal building codes for solar and energy efficiency
• Supporting energy efficiency improvements that will keep more dollars in Floridians’ wallets

Lastly, to improve neighborhood livability and shield residents, businesses, farms, and community services from floods and storm surges, the Florida Future Fund would support community improvement projects, for example, by:

• Building new parks
• Installing curbside plantings to improve drainage
• Expanding urban and rural tree canopy
• Updating municipal planning and development codes for flood reduction.
• Protecting coasts and natural areas—such as forests, wetlands, and the Everglades

The Florida Future Fund would prioritize project investments in communities that need it the most, including low-income areas, communities of color, and tribes. To support local job creation, the fund could pair investments made in these communities with job training programs. As shown in Table 1 below, the Florida Future Fund would support ready-to-deploy solutions that embrace best practices as well as more innovative project designs that would reduce future threats.

Smart infrastructure investments pay back dividends to communities and taxpayers

The infrastructure projects supported by the Florida Future Fund would strengthen Florida’s economy and improve residents’ daily lives, for example, by creating jobs, cutting energy bills, and reducing time wasted sitting in heavy traffic.⁶² Fund investments would also lower public health risks and economic losses tied to extreme weather damage to homes, businesses, and industrial and hazardous waste sites.⁶³

As electricity demand in Florida rises due to a growing population and increased use of air conditioning, the Florida Future Fund would help the state use solar energy to meet a greater portion of its electricity consumption by supporting community solar projects that use school and other public building rooftops. The Florida Future Fund could also provide financing in order to improve the affordability of rooftop solar for households and business owners. According to an analysis by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Florida could offset 47 percent of its total electricity consumption through rooftop solar alone.⁶⁴ These Florida Future Fund projects would improve the state’s energy security by reducing strain on the grid and lowering energy bills for households. They could also create thousands of jobs and support small businesses in the solar industry. While, in 2017, Florida ranked fifth among states in solar jobs, with more than 8,500, it is ranked 35