Executive Order 13653 'Preparing the U.S. for the Impacts of Climate Change'

The White House just released President Obama's 'Executive Order on 'Preparing the United States for the Impacts of Climate Change' this morning. Section 3 of the Executive Order provides specific tasks and directions to government agencies pertaining to program and policy adjustments for promotion of carbon sequestration and reductions to the sources of climate change as well as completion of an 'inventory and assessment of proposed and completed changes to their land- and water-related policies, programs, and regulations', as highlighted below:

'...Sec. 3. Managing Lands and Waters for Climate Preparedness and Resilience. Within 9 months of the date of this order and in coordination with the efforts described in section 2* of this order, the heads of the Departments of Defense, the Interior, and Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, NOAA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers, and other agencies as recommended by the Council established in section 6** of this order shall work with the Chair of CEQ and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to complete an inventory and assessment of proposed and completed changes to their land- and water-related policies, programs, and regulations necessary to make the Nation's watersheds, natural resources, and ecosystems, and the communities and economies that depend on them, more resilient in the face of a changing climate. Further, recognizing the many benefits the Nation's natural infrastructure provides, agencies shall, where possible, focus on program and policy adjustments that promote the dual goals of greater climate resilience and carbon sequestration, or other reductions to the sources of climate change. The assessment shall include a timeline and plan for making changes to policies, programs, and regulations. Agencies shall build on efforts already completed or underway as outlined in agencies' Adaptation Plans, as discussed in section 5 of this order, as well as recent interagency climate adaptation strategies such as the National Action Plan: Priorities for Managing Freshwater Resources in a Changing Climate, released October 28, 2011; the National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy, released March 26, 2013; and the National Ocean Policy Implementation Plan, released April 16, 2013....'

* Section 2 addresses interagency coordination pertaining to Modernizing Federal Programs to Support Climate Resilient Investment.

**Section 6 establishes an interagency Council on Climate Preparedness and Resilience (Council). 

A PDF of this Executive Order's online announcement is available here.