Today, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers joined more than 20 other federal agencies to release its 2024-2027 Climate Adaptation Plan and expand the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to ensure federal operations are increasingly resilient to climate change impacts. The updated adaptation plans advance the administration’s National Climate Resilience Framework, which helps to align climate resilience investments across the public and private sector through common principles and opportunities for action to build a climate resilient nation.
Communities from coast to coast are experiencing the impacts of climate change firsthand through impacts such as heat waves, droughts, sea level rise, and more frequent and destructive floods. In light of these impacts, the administration is taking action to assess, manage, and reduce the risks that climate change poses to the nation. To address future risks from coastal and inland flooding, USACE continues to establish and refine protocols to ensure climate change considerations are factored into all studies and projects to increase the long-term benefits and effectiveness of the infrastructure and ecosystems the agency delivers.
“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is pleased to release its 2024-2027 Climate Adaptation Plan as we join with other federal agencies in support of the administration’s efforts to reduce the risks from a changing climate to the nation’s infrastructure, communities, and ecosystems,” said USACE Director of Civil Works Edward E. Belk, Jr. “Climate change considerations are built into all USACE activities to ensure successful long-term performance of the critical missions, programs, projects, and operational demands the nation has entrusted to us.”
At the beginning of his administration, President Biden tasked federal agencies with leading whole-of-government efforts to address climate change through Executive Order 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. Following the magnitude of challenges posed by the climate crisis underscored last year when the nation endured a record 28 individual billion-dollar extreme weather and climate disasters that caused more than $90 billion in aggregate damage, USACE continues to be a leader and partner in adaptation and resilience.
“As communities face extreme heat, natural disasters and severe weather from the impacts of climate change, President Biden is delivering record resources to build climate resilience across the country,” said Brenda Mallory, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. “Through his Investing in America agenda and an all-of-government approach to tackling the climate crisis, the Biden-Harris Administration is delivering more than $50 billion to help communities increase their resilience and bolster protections for those who need it most. By updating our own adaptation strategies, the federal government is leading by example to build a more resilient future for all.”
USACE released its initial Climate Adaptation Plan in 2021 and progress reports outlining advancements toward achieving their adaptation goals in 2022. In coordination with the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Office of Management and Budget, agencies updated their Climate Adaptation Plans for 2024 through 2027 to better integrate climate risk across their mission, operations, and asset management, including:
● Combining historical data and projections to assess exposure of assets to climate-related hazards including extreme heat and precipitation, sea level rise, flooding, and wildfire;
● Expanding the operational focus on managing climate risk to facilities and supply chains to include federal employees and federal lands and waters;
● Broadening the mission focus to describe mainstreaming adaptation into agency policies, programs, planning, budget formulation, and external funding;
● Linking climate adaptation actions with other Biden-Harris administration priorities, including advancing environmental justice and the President’s Justice40 Initiative, strengthening engagement with Tribal Nations, supporting the America the Beautiful initiative, scaling up nature-based solutions, and addressing the causes of climate change through climate mitigation; and · Adopting common progress indicators across agencies to assess the progress of agency climate adaptation efforts.
All plans from each of the 20+ agencies and more information are available at www.sustainability.gov/adaptation.
