Lee Aiken, DNREC climate policy planner and UD Class of 2018 alumna, helps a family to learn more about climate risks while playing "Climate Plinko" at Blackbird Creek Fall Fest.

Delaware’s climate plan has strong UD connections

Article by Molly Schafer Photos courtesy of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control August 14, 2026

Over two dozen alumni helped shape the state’s new roadmap for climate resilience and zero-net emissions

Delaware is a small state with big ideas for tackling climate issues.

Nearly 80% of Delawareans view climate change as a serious threat, according to the 2025 Delaware Climate Change Perceptions Survey.

It’s a concern rooted in geography as much as public opinion. Delaware is the lowest-lying state in the nation, with 381 miles of tidal shoreline vulnerable to rising seas, stronger storms and persistent flooding.

Now, the state is taking an aggressive approach to preparing for what comes next — and alumni from the University of Delaware are helping lead the charge.

On Jan. 7, 2026, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) released the 2025 Delaware Climate Action Plan, a sweeping plan to protect the state’s homes, infrastructure and economy. The plan also addresses public health concerns and the conservation of Delaware’s unique natural environment.

More than 20 UD alumni — including hydrologists, engineers, environmental scientists, transportation policy specialists and state planners — played active roles in its development and implementation. They come from colleges across UD where they studied everything from environmental engineering to plant and soil sciences to public policy analysis.

Three Blue Hens served as lead authors on the report, along with five other state leaders. Susan Love, administrator of Climate and Sustainability Programs for DNREC’s Division of Climate, Coastal and Energy, Wylie Feaster, DNREC climate change training and education specialist, and Lee Aiken, DNREC climate policy planner.

Susan Love, DNREC Climate and Sustainability Programs administrator and UD Class of 1997 and 2012 alumna, engages attendees in front of DNREC's "Climate Living Room" display at Newark Community Day. The Climate Action Plan team met with hundreds of Delawareans to gather feedback during the plan's development.

“The 2025 Delaware Climate Action Plan is a comprehensive statewide playbook for addressing climate change in Delaware,” said Love, a UD Class of 1997 and 2012 alumna. “It takes a two-fold approach to climate action. One, it charts a path towards achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and it charts a path for protecting Delaware communities from the impacts of climate change.”

The 2025 plan expands the state’s 2021 climate strategy and is guided by requirements established by the Delaware Climate Change Solutions Act of 2023.

Love and the Climate Action Plan team met with hundreds of Delawareans as they developed the plan. She says Delaware’s small size provides big opportunities to work with organizations and businesses across the state.

“Because we’re so small, much of the population can see the real-time impact of climate change, especially as it is exhibiting itself from sea-level rise,” she said. “We can’t prepare for those changes without also addressing the causes of climate change, which are the emissions from fossil fuels primarily, but also industrial pollutants.”

Wylie Feaster (left), DNREC climate change training and education specialist and UD Class of 2023 alumnus and Alexis Brinsfield (right), climate community engagement planner, tabling on behalf of the DNREC Division of Climate, Coastal and Energy at Wilmington Earth and Arbor Day.

The plan focuses on four key goals: transitioning Delaware to net-zero emissions, examining how land-use decisions influence emissions and resilience, protecting communities from climate impacts and preparing the state’s workforce for growing climate and clean energy needs.

Delaware has already reduced emissions by about 24% from 2005 to 2021, but state modeling shows that existing policies alone will not achieve the state’s long-term targets.

“With existing conditions, we continue along the trajectory, but we only get about 54 percent reduction by 2050,” Love said. “That means we have to do more. We have to put more policies in place, we have to pull more levers to reduce emissions.”

Some of those “levers” include preserving farmlands and forests, improving wetland management for carbon sequestration, avoiding new development in flood-prone areas and creating denser, more connected communities with expanded transportation options.

“We know that in 2050, we’re probably going to be burning some gas, burning some oil,” Love said. “We want to be able to absorb the carbon from that in some other way.”

That is where land-use decisions and Delaware’s natural and working lands become critical.

“In order to offset the emissions we know we’re going to have, we need our farms, our forests, our wetlands and other natural lands to sequester and store that carbon,” Love added.

The Delaware Climate Action plan is supported by the Climate Change Projections for 2025 report, a scientific assessment developed by the University of Delaware’s Center for Environmental Monitoring and Analysis and by the state’s Technical Climate Advisors, an advisory committee that also includes numerous UD alumni. The report examined multiple climate scenarios and their potential impacts on the state.

No matter what comes, our Blue Hen alumni are working to ensure the state will be ready to meet the challenges ahead.