Federal Climate Adaptation Plans

Agencies will develop climate adaptation and resilience plans that evaluate the most significant climate change related risks and vulnerabilities in agency missions and operations, and identify actions to manage and mitigate those risks and vulnerabilities. Agencies will provide annual updates to these plans. At a minimum, major updates will occur after every National Climate Assessment and every four years. Agencies also will assess and report on implementation activities and progress annually. The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and Office of Management and Budget will review, evaluate, and monitor these reports, in coordination with agency officials, as part of a robust process to continually improve the effectiveness of agency planning and implementation.

Full Text

Sec. 211. Climate Action Plans and Data and Information Products to Improve Adaptation and Increase Resilience.

(a) The head of each agency shall submit a draft action plan to the Task Force and the Federal Chief Sustainability Officer within 120 days of the date of this order that describes steps the agency can take with regard to its facilities and operations to bolster adaptation and increase resilience to the impacts of climate change. Action plans should, among other things, describe the agency's climate vulnerabilities and describe the agency’s plan to use the power of procurement to increase the energy and water efficiency of United States Government installations, buildings, and facilities and ensure they are climate-ready. Agencies shall consider the feasibility of using the purchasing power of the Federal Government to drive innovation, and shall seek to increase the Federal Government's resilience against supply chain disruptions. Such disruptions put the Nation’s manufacturing sector at risk, as well as consumer access to critical goods and services. Agencies shall make their action plans public, and post them on the agency website, to the extent consistent with applicable law.

(b) Within 30 days of an agency’s submission of an action plan, the Federal Chief Sustainability Officer, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, shall review the plan to assess its consistency with the policy set forth in section 204 of this order and the priorities issued by the Office of Management and Budget.

(c) After submitting an initial action plan, the head of each agency shall submit to the Task Force and Federal Chief Sustainability Officer progress reports annually on the status of implementation efforts. Agencies shall make progress reports public and post them on the agency website, to the extent consistent with applicable law. The heads of agencies shall assign their respective agency Chief Sustainability Officer the authority to perform duties relating to implementation of this order within the agency, to the extent consistent with applicable law.

(d) To assist agencies and State, local, Tribal, and territorial governments, communities, and businesses in preparing for and adapting to the impacts of climate change, the Secretary of Commerce, through the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Secretary of Homeland Security, through the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, in coordination with the heads of other agencies, as appropriate, shall provide to the Task Force a report on ways to expand and improve climate forecast capabilities and information products for the public. In addition, the Secretary of the Interior and the Deputy Director for Management of the Office of Management and Budget, in their capacities as the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Federal Geographic Data Committee, shall assess and provide to the Task Force a report on the potential development of a consolidated Federal geographic mapping service that can facilitate public access to climate-related information that will assist Federal, State, local, and Tribal governments in climate planning and resilience activities.