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What's on the horizon for 2024? Check out these health policy stories NC Health News will be following for the upcoming year. Ashley Ward, director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub at Duke University, is quoted on the possibility of extreme heat causing health care policy change and her heartened experience seeing extreme heat leaders at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai last December.

Ashley Ward, director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub, shared some reflections from the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) after attending in Dubai. Ward told "97.9 The Hill" that she saw three major takeaways from the conference: the first ever focus on human health, the establishment of a loss and damage fund, and the specific calling out of fossil fuels.

World leaders—along with government officials, nongovernmental organizations, researchers and activists—gathered in Dubai for the annual United Nations Climate Change Conference to discuss ways to advance climate action. Experts from the Nicholas Institute attended the conference, released publications or announced initiatives tied to it and/or followed the proceedings closely.

A Duke University team collaborated with the Department of the Interior to produce a practical, comprehensive resource on implementing nature-based solutions.

The Department of the Interior today announced new steps to utilize nature-based solutions in its efforts to tackle the climate crisis. Those include the launch of the Nature-Based Solutions Roadmap, a new tool developed in partnership with the Nicholas Institute to provide DOI with guidance on implementing nature-based solutions.

As Florida counties eye already-conserved public lands to offset impacts to urban and suburban wetlands, a blog post from the Environmental Policy Innovation Center outlines arguments for putting offsets on public lands and presents counterarguments. The blog post also cites a 2020 Nicholas Institute report to detail safeguards that can be put in place when public lands have to be used for mitigation.

The Biden-Harris administration announced new actions to advance nature-based climate solutions during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28). The list included the Department of the Interior’s Nature-Based Solutions Roadmap, an online tool created in partnership with Duke University that provides strategies, training resources, and successful examples for adopting nature-based solutions throughout the United States.

The Infrastructure Sustainability Learning (ISLe) Initiative aims to accelerate the development of climate-smart infrastructure through virtual knowledge exchange and problem-solving among infrastructure practitioners and experts.

Modeling from Energy Pathways USA finds the two policies can combine to move the country closer to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, but complementary action is needed to reach the goal by 2050.

A proposal from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to limit greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector could potentially cut 50 percent of emissions remaining after the Inflation Reduction Act’s incentives for renewable power generation conclude, according to a new report from Energy Pathways USA. Co-authors Martin Ross and Jackson Ewing are available to speak with the media about the report's findings.