In its fifth National Climate Assessment, the White House has announced an investment exceeding $6 billion to bolster the resilience of communities throughout the United States against the impacts of climate change.
The White House emphasized that these latest initiatives are an extension of the Biden-Harris Administration’s unparalleled commitment to addressing the climate crisis, fortifying America’s resilience, and prioritizing underserved and overburdened communities.
The new funding allocation encompasses nearly $4 billion aimed at modernizing the nation’s electric grid to ensure a more reliable power supply for households across the country. Additionally, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is poised to allocate $2 billion in grants to support projects promoting the use of clean energy and addressing challenges related to environmental and climate justice.
Financed by the Inflation Reduction Act, this program is designed to foster multi-year collaborations between community-based organizations, local governments, institutes of higher education, and federally-recognized Tribes. The EPA will also extend $200 million in technical assistance and capacity building support to communities and their partners as they navigate the process of accessing these crucial federal resources.
Meanwhile, the Department of Interior has unveiled a $100 million funding initiative to upgrade the country’s water infrastructure, specifically targeting the impact of drought in the Western United States. This includes $50 million in project awards aimed at enhancing the reliability of water resources and supporting ecosystem health in Western states. An additional $50 million funding opportunity has been announced for water conservation projects and hydropower upgrades.
The National Climate Assessment, a federal initiative dedicated to examining the state of climate change and its repercussions on communities and ecosystems across the nation, revealed staggering statistics. According to a recent Associated Press/NORC poll, 87% of adults reported experiencing extreme weather events such as severe heat, drought, hurricanes, or winter storms in the last five years, with three-quarters of the public having such experiences in just the last few months.
