WASHINGTON, June 20,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA joined more than 20 federal
agencies in releasing its updated Climate Adaptation Plan
Thursday, helping expand the Biden-Harris Administration's efforts
to make federal operations increasingly resilient to the impacts of
climate change for the benefit of all.
The updated plans advance the administration's National Climate
Resilience Framework, which helps align climate resilience
investments across the public and private sectors through common
principles and opportunities.
"Thanks to the leadership of the Biden-Harris Administration, we
are strengthening climate resilience to ensure humanity is
well-prepared for the effects of climate change," said NASA
Administrator Bill Nelson. "NASA's
decades of Earth observation are key to building climate resiliency
and sustainability across the country and the world."
NASA serves as a global leader in Earth science, providing
researchers with crucial data from its satellites and other assets,
as well as other observations and research on the climate system.
The agency also works to apply that knowledge and inform the public
about climate change. NASA will continue to prioritize these
efforts and maintain an open information policy that makes its
science data, software, and research freely available to all.
Climate variability and change also have potential impacts on
NASA's ability to fulfill its mission, requiring proactive planning
and action from the agency. To ensure coastal flooding, extreme
weather events, and other climate change impacts do not stop the
agency's work, NASA is improving its climate hazard analyses and
developing plans to protect key resources and facilities.
"As communities face extreme heat, natural disasters and severe
weather from the impacts of climate change, President Biden is
delivering record resources to build climate resilience across the
country," said Brenda Mallory, chair
of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. "Through his
Investing in America agenda and an all-of-government approach to
tackling the climate crisis, the Biden-Harris Administration is
delivering more than $50 billion to
help communities increase their resilience and bolster protections
for those who need it most. By updating our own adaptation
strategies, the federal government is leading by example to build a
more resilient future for all."
At the beginning of his administration, President Biden tasked
federal agencies with leading whole-of-government efforts to
address climate change through Executive Order 14008, Tackling the
Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. Following the magnitude of
challenges posed by the climate crisis underscored last year when
the nation endured a record 28 individual billion-dollar extreme
weather and climate disasters that caused more than $90 billion in aggregate damage, NASA continues
to be a leader and partner in adaptation and resilience.
NASA released its initial Climate Adaptation Plan in
2021 and progress reports outlining advancements toward
achieving their adaptation goals in 2022. In coordination with the
White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Office of
Management and Budget, agencies updated their Climate Adaptation
Plans for 2024 to 2027 to better integrate climate risk across
their mission, operations, and asset management, including:
- Combining historical data and projections to assess exposure of
assets to climate-related hazards including extreme heat and
precipitation, sea level rise, flooding, and wildfire.
- Expanding the operational focus on managing climate risk to
facilities and supply chains to include federal employees and
federal lands and waters.
- Broadening the mission focus to describe mainstreaming
adaptation into agency policies, programs, planning, budget
formulation, and external funding.
- Linking climate adaptation actions with other Biden-Harris
Administration priorities, including advancing environmental
justice and the President's Justice40 Initiative, strengthening
engagement with Tribal Nations, supporting the America the
Beautiful initiative, scaling up nature-based solutions, and
addressing the causes of climate change through climate
mitigation.
- Adopting common progress indicators across agencies
to assess the progress of agency climate adaptation
efforts.
All plans from each of the more than 20 agencies and more
information are available online.
To learn more about Earth science research at NASA, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/earth-science//
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SOURCE NASA