President Obama Establishes a Task Force on Climate

Today, delivering on commitments made in his Climate Action Plan, President Obama signed an Executive Order (EO) to strengthen the Nation’s preparedness for and resilience to the impacts of climate change. Actions directed by the EO include:

• Establishing a new Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience, comprised of state, local, and Tribal leaders, to advise the Administration on how the Federal Government can respond to the needs of communities nationwide that are on the front lines of climate change impacts;
• Establishing an interagency Council on Climate Preparedness and Resilience, chaired by the White House and including more than 25 agencies, to develop, coordinate, and implement priority Federal actions related to climate preparedness;
• Directing Federal agencies to examine their policies and programs to find ways to remove barriers to resilience-focused actions and investments;
• Directing Federal agencies to evaluate how to better promote natural storm barriers, such as dunes and wetlands; and
• Instructing Federal agencies to develop new data-driven tools and information that state, local, and private-sector leaders need to make planning decisions in the context of climate change.

Preparing America for climate-change impacts is a key pillar of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan. The actions directed by the President today are common sense steps to help ensure that America’s infrastructure, communities, and natural resources are resilient to sea-level rise, increasingly frequent large storms, increased drought, and other climate-change impacts that are already being felt in regions across the country. These steps will also help empower the Nation’s businesses, communities, health professionals, and decision makers with the tools and scientific information they need to make planning decisions in a changing climate.

• Read the Executive Order here.
• Read a Fact Sheet about the Executive Order here.
• Learn more about climate resilience here and here.
• Learn about other steps the Obama Administration is taking to combat climate change here.
• Follow the conversation on Twitter: @whitehouseostp & @whitehouseceq, #ActOnClimate

Becky Fried is a Communications and Policy Analyst at OSTP