Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
the Council on Environmental Quality to report to the President on
progress on agency actions and recommendations for further
measures.
Agencies were instructed by CEQ to include initial adaptation plans in
their 2012 Strategic Sustainability Performance Plans (SSPPs), required of
every agency under E.O. 13514. Agencies' SSPPs are available using
sustainability.performance.gov. In many cases, the climate change adaptation
plans are stand-alone reports appended to the SSPPs. The first adaptation plans
were officially released on February 7, 2013, for a 60-day public comment
period.
The June 2013 Climate Action Plan calls for a series of actions that may
be—but are not clearly—incremental to what agencies were already
undertaking pursuant to E.O. 13514. The plan includes:
Directing agencies to identify and remove barriers to making climate-
resilient investments; identify and remove counterproductive policies
that increase vulnerabilities, and support more resilient investments
through agency grants, technical assistance, and other mechanisms.
Climate risk management is to be fully integrated into federal
infrastructure and natural resource management planning,
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the Clean
Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds,
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grants for
brownfields cleanup, and HUD grants to assist in recovery following
Superstorm Sandy.
Establishing a State, Local, and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate
Preparedness,
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to provide recommendations to remove barriers to
appropriate investments, modify grant and loan programs, and
develop better information and tools to support communities that seek
to become more resilient to a changing climate.
Requiring that existing federal programs continue to provide targeted
assistance to communities to prepare for the impacts of climate
change, including through the Federal Highway Administration, the
Bureau of Indian Affairs, and annual federal ―Environmental Justice
Progress Reports.‖
Boosting resilience of buildings and infrastructure by developing a
framework and guidelines for safe buildings and infrastructure
through a panel to be convened by the National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST). The President's FY2014 budget proposal
