Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad
The order directs the most sweeping government-wide restructuring of U.S. climate policy in decades, creating a White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy led by a National Climate Advisor, a cabinet-level National Climate Task Force, and immediately pausing new oil and gas leases on all federal public lands and offshore waters pending a comprehensive review.
It establishes long-term national goals — net-zero emissions by 2050, carbon-free electricity by 2035, and 30 percent land and water conservation by 2030 — and creates a Justice40 framework directing 40 percent of the benefits from certain federal climate investments toward historically disadvantaged communities.
What this order does
What it orders
The order directs a government-wide restructuring of U.S. climate policy. It creates a White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy headed by a National Climate Advisor and a cabinet-level National Climate Task Force. It immediately directs the Secretary of the Interior to pause new oil and gas leases on federal public lands and offshore waters pending a comprehensive review. It establishes a Civilian Climate Corps initiative, a Justice40 framework directing 40 percent of certain federal investment benefits to disadvantaged communities, and an Interagency Working Group on economic transition for coal and power-plant communities. It also directs the integration of climate considerations into national defense planning, homeland security, and foreign policy.
The order sets goals for carbon-free federal electricity by 2035, doubling offshore wind by 2030, and conserving 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030, but most specific policy changes — including eliminating fossil fuel subsidies, setting clean procurement standards, and building international climate financing — require agencies to first develop plans and recommendations before taking effect.
Who it affects
Virtually every federal cabinet agency, energy companies seeking new leases on federal lands and waters, coal and fossil-fuel workers in transition communities, low-income and minority communities targeted by the Justice40 framework, state and tribal governments, and foreign nations receiving U.S. climate finance and development assistance.
Why it matters
Energy companies seeking new federal oil and gas leases face an immediate government-wide halt. Coal and power-plant workers gain a dedicated federal transition program. Low-income and minority communities are positioned to receive 40 percent of the benefits from certain federal climate investments — a structural shift in how federal dollars are allocated.
What must happen and when
How the order is supposed to work
The order creates a three-tier coordination structure: the National Climate Advisor heads the White House Climate Policy Office; the cabinet-level National Climate Task Force, also chaired by the Advisor, drives government-wide implementation; and a separate Interagency Working Group handles fossil-fuel community economic transitions, housed within the Department of Energy. Agencies feed rolling reports and action plans to the Task Force on staggered 60-to-120-day deadlines. OMB integrates climate priorities into annual budget requests starting with Fiscal Year 2022, and agencies publish progress reports publicly each year.
Actions and deadlines
- Secretary of State to prepare transmittal package seeking Senate advice and consent to ratify the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol
- Secretary of Agriculture to initiate stakeholder input on climate-smart agricultural and forestry practices
- Secretary of Commerce (NOAA) to initiate stakeholder input on fisheries resilience to climate change
- Interagency Working Group on Coal to submit report on federal mechanisms to support coal and power-plant community revitalization
- Secretary of State and Secretary of the Treasury to submit climate finance plan to the President
- Agencies with extensive international work to submit climate integration strategies and implementation plans to the President
- Submit comprehensive clean electricity and zero-emission vehicle procurement plan to the National Climate Task Force
- Secretary of the Interior to submit Civilian Climate Corps strategy to the Task Force
- Secretary of the Interior to submit report recommending steps to achieve 30 percent conservation of U.S. lands and waters by 2030
- Secretary of Agriculture to submit agricultural and forestry climate strategy report to the Task Force
- Office of Science and Technology Policy to publish report identifying climate strategies with the greatest air and water quality improvements
- Director of National Intelligence to prepare a National Intelligence Estimate on national and economic security impacts of climate change
- Secretary of Defense to develop and submit a Climate Risk Analysis of security implications of climate change
- Each agency head to submit a draft climate action plan covering facilities, operations, and procurement to the Task Force
- White House Environmental Justice Interagency Council to submit recommendations for updating Executive Order 12898 to the President
- Council on Environmental Quality, OMB, and National Climate Advisor to publish Justice40 investment recommendations
- Council on Environmental Quality to create the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool and publish interactive maps of disadvantaged communities
- OMB to publish an annual Environmental Justice Scorecard on a public website
- Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs to provide annual climate security integration update through the National Security Council
Agencies directed to act
Authority and reach
What this order changes
Amends Executive Order 12898