The writing is (again) on the wall: How the Biden administration’s climate agenda addresses adaptation and resilience

Wide-ranging impacts of climate change are already being felt across the country and are projected to intensify. In the absence of significant global mitigation and adaptation efforts, climate change creates new and increasing risks to our population, economy, and national security from sea level rise, wildfires, and extreme weather. It is well documented that these impacts disproportionately affect low-income households and communities of color, many of whom also experience higher levels of pollution that compound climate impacts.

The best way to avert the worst impacts of climate change lies in significantly reducing global carbon emissions. Reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and preparing for unavoidable climate impacts, while also building a fairer economy, will require transformational change across all major economic sectors—finance, energy, transport, agriculture, land use, manufacturing, and the built environment. The past year has seen important advancements in U.S. climate adaptation policy from the Biden administration and Congress, but the coming months will largely determine the outcomes and durability of this burgeoning progress.

Climate change as a threat multiplier

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) recent Working Group I report, Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis, found that human influence and emissions are very likely the main drivers behind both the ice loss and ocean warming driving sea level rise. The report also found that the severe climate changes being observed, including droughts, heatwaves, wildfires, tropical cyclones, and floods, will become even more frequent.

Hurricane Ida came ashore August 29 as one of the most powerful hurricanes to hit the U.S. mainland. Not surprisingly, impacts to critical facilities, including hospitals, nursing homes, and independent living facilities, were significant and compounded by the high rates of COVID-19 infection throughout the affected region. The storm’s impacts to infrastructure left more than one million people without power for weeks and over 300,000 area residents under boil-water advisories. The Northeast also experienced deadly tornados and flash flooding in densely populated areas as Ida’s remnants brought record-breaking rainfall that overwhelmed stormwater and sewer systems. Also this year, the arid west faced severe-to-extreme drought conditions and multiple wildfires that scorched more than five million acres and thousands of homes and businesses. The growing risk of wildfires, particularly to the expanding wildland-urban interface, is so significant that insurers are calling for building restrictions and greater use of hazard-resistant building codes and standards. Sebastian Martinuzzi et al., The 2021 Wildland-Urban Interface of the Conterminous United States, U.S. Forest Service (2015), https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/48642; Rob Bailey, As Wildfires Get Costlier and Deadlier, Insurers and Utilities Pay the Price (Aug. 24, 2021), Brink, https://www.brinknews.com; Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety, https://ibhs.org/risk-research/wildfire/.

Federal action to help communities “Build Back Better”

During his first 100 days in office, President Biden issued sweeping executive orders (EO) aimed at climate change, racial inequity, and mistrust of science, in the context of the national and global effort to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic crisis. Key among these were directions to agencies to reverse certain environmental policies of the previous administration, restore protections for natural resources, and better prepare the nation for the impacts of extreme weather and climate change. One of President Biden’s first acts was to sign a statement of acceptance of the Paris Agreement and issue a letter to the United Nations requesting U.S. membership in the global agreement. Climate-related executive orders, notably EO 13990 on Protecting Health & Restoring Science to Tackle Climate Crisis and EO 14008 on Tackling Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, revived and expanded upon Obama-era initiatives by directing federal departments and agencies to assess climate risks to their missions and facilities and identify opportunities to adapt and strengthen resilience to climate impacts. President Biden also rescinded draft guidance for the National Environmental Policy Act issued in June 2019 and directing the Council on Environmental Quality to review and update its final guidance issued in 2016 to ensure consideration of the full range of potential environmental and climate impacts, including those that exacerbate flood, wildfire, and other natural hazards.

President Biden has committed to advancing environmental justice and spurring economic opportunity for disadvantaged communities through his Justice40 Initiative, a whole-of-government effort to ensure that federal agencies work with states and communities where at least 40 percent of the overall benefits of federal investments in climate and clean energy accrue to disadvantaged communities. In July, the White House published interim guidance to help agencies identify programs, investments, and benefits to prioritize key areas, such as the creation of community resilience plans that address the needs of disadvantaged communities.

As part of EO 14030, Climate Related Financial Risk, President Biden reinstated EO 13690 and the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard (FFRMS), which requires that federally supported projects adhere to updated flood resilience standards. The White House has created a Flood Resilience Interagency Working Group co-chaired by CEQ, OMB, and FEMA to coordinate federal agencies’ implementation of FFRMS and other flood priorities. Agencies are now working to update their rules and procedures to implement the EO and FFRMS. On August 27, 2021, FEMA issued a policy partially implementing the FFRMS for noncritical actions, such as housing, through its Hazard Mitigation Assistance Programs. In September, FEMA announced immediate steps the agency is taking to reduce barriers that historically underserved populations experience in accessing programs that provide individual assistance to disaster survivors.

As Congress considers legislation to revitalize the nation’s infrastructure, both the House of Representatives and the Senate have developed measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, advance renewables, invest in climate research and science, and ensure that infrastructure investments reduce vulnerability to long-term climate impacts. For example, the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act includes provisions for energy efficiency, electric grid resilience, drought and Western water resilience, and flood and wildfire mitigation. The transportation sections of the bill invest in electric vehicles and charging infrastructure, establish a carbon reduction program to reduce transportation emissions, and establish a formula and competitive grant program to help states improve the resiliency of transportation infrastructure. As of this writing, legislative outcomes are not certain for the president’s multitrillion-dollar Build Back Better plan as work continues to resolve issues like expanding health care and investing in childcare, along with curbing carbon emissions and preparing the nation for current and future climate impacts. Regardless of the outcome in Congress, change is clearly afoot, and climate change, as its main driver, will continue dominating the national discourse and spur the Biden administration’s multipronged climate adaptation policy forward.