EPA’s 2024-2027 Climate Adaptation Plan focuses on priority actions the agency will take over the next four years to allow the agency to deliver on its mission to protect human health and the environment, even as the climate changes. The plan integrates consideration of climate risks into multiple actions as appropriate and where consistent with EPA’s statutory authorities, such as in the development of rules, policy and guidance; permitting and environmental reviews; monitoring, enforcement, and compliance activities; and grant making.
Highlights from the plan include priority actions EPA is taking to:
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Federal agencies have been making steady progress on efforts to build adaptive capacity and resilience across federal operations. EPA’s 2024-2027 Climate Adaptation Plan is part of a coordinated effort of more than twenty federal agencies’ climate adaptation plans. These plans highlight efforts across the federal government to ensure federal facilities, employees, resources and operations are increasingly resilient to climate change impacts.
Each agency’s plan aligns with adaptation and resilience requirements in section 211 of Executive Order 14008: Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, section 5(d) of EO 14030: Climate-Related Financial Risk, and section 503 of EO 14057: Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability. The plans also demonstrate how agencies are contributing to the objectives and opportunities for action identified in the Biden-Harris Administration’s National Climate Resilience Framework and incorporating natural hazards and climate resilience into real property asset management and investment decisions (per the Disaster Recovery Planning Act and M-24-03).
Find climate adaptation plans from more than twenty federal agencies at sustainability.gov/adaptation.
EPA’s 2024-2027 Climate Adaptation Plan builds on work initiated in previous climate adaptation plans to incorporate climate adaptation into the agency’s programs, policies, rules, enforcement activities and operations. EPA has already made significant strides partnering with other federal agencies, states, Tribes, territories and local governments to promote climate resilience across the nation, placing a particular focus on advancing environmental justice. Nevertheless, more needs to be done given the magnitude of this global challenge.
Find previous climate adaptation plans below.
EPA’s major offices, including National Program Offices, Regional Offices and the Office of Policy, each developed climate adaptation implementation plans in October 2022 to support actions outlined in EPA’s 2021 Climate Adaptation Plan. Implementation plans will be updated to reflect updates to EPA’s 2024-2027 Climate Adaptation Plan.
Each implementation plan describes how programs and regions will integrate climate adaptation into programs, policies, and operations as appropriate and where consistent with EPA’s statutory authorities to enable EPA to achieve its mission, even as the climate changes. They also describe how EPA offices will partner with states, tribes, territories, local governments, and communities of all sizes to strengthen their ability to anticipate, prepare for, adapt to, and recover from the impacts of climate change. Particular attention is given to those actions that deliver co-benefits, including curbing greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution, and promoting public health, economic growth, and climate justice.
Taken together, the 20 implementation plans provide a roadmap for the specific actions EPA will take over the next four years with other federal agencies and its partners across the nation to continue to protect human health and the environment under future climate conditions, with a particular focus on advancing environmental justice.
