Department of Homeland Security
Note: On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued a memorandum instituting a regulatory freeze, preventing agencies from issuing proposals or rules pending review by Trump-appointed agency heads. On January 31, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14192, directing agencies to identify 10 existing regulations to eliminate for each new regulation they promulgate.
Climate Action Plan
On January 27, 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order 14008 (Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad). This executive order signaled that climate change would be a priority in policy-making across the federal government, established a number of new offices, and instructed agency heads to take steps toward developing climate policies. Section 211 of the Executive Order directed each agency to develop a draft action plan that describes steps the agency can take with regard to its facilities and operations to bolster adaptation and increase resilience to the impacts of climate change.
On June 20, 2024, major federal agencies, including DHS, released updated climate adaptation plans covering the 2024-2027 period, which expanded efforts to ensure agency facilities, employees, resources, and operations are increasingly resilient to climate change impacts. DHS's 2024-2027 Climate Adaptation Plan extensively discusses the impacts of climate hazards on DHS facilities and operations.
Biden Administration (2021-2025)
2024-2027 Climate Adaptation Plan
On June 20, 2024, major federal agencies, including DHS, released updated climate adaptation plans covering the 2024-2027 period, which expanded efforts to ensure agency facilities, employees, resources, and operations are increasingly resilient to climate change impacts. DHS's 2024-2027 Climate Adaptation Plan extensively discusses the impacts of climate hazards on DHS facilities and operations.
Climate Action Plan - 2022 Progress Report
On October 6, 2022, major federal agencies, including DHS, released their inaugural Climate Adaptation and Resilience Progress Reports. DHS's 2022 Progress Report describes the agency's progress towards the goals identified in the 2021 Climate Action Plan
DHS Climate Action Plan
On October 7, 2021, twenty-three federal agencies, including DHS, released plans detailing how they will adapt to climate change and increase resilience to climate change impacts. The plans include a variety of resiliency and adaptation measures, including steps to develop a more resilient supply change, to enhance protections for workers and communities, and to increase climate literacy and leadership within Federal agencies.
As part of this initiative, DHS issued its “Climate Action Plan,” which outlines a plan for DHS to remain mission-resilient to climate change while reducing its impact on the environment. This plan also highlights several initiatives and reforms designed to help make the United States more resilient in the face of climate-related risks, such as floods, wildfires, extreme heat, and drought.
Prior to publication, in September 2021 this plan was submitted to and reviewed by the National Climate Task Force, White House Council on Environmental Quality’s Federal Chief Sustainability Officer, and the Office of Management and Budget.
First Trump Administration (2017-2021)
N/A
Strategic Framework for Addressing Climate Change
On January 27, 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order 14008 (Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad). Among other directives, Section 103(e) of the Executive Order directed DHS to consider the implications of climate change in the Arctic, along the country’s borders, and to National Critical Functions, including any relevant information from the Climate Risk Analysis performed by other agencies, when relevant strategy, planning, and programming documents and processes.
On October 21, 2021, DHS released its Strategic Framework for Addressing Climate Change, which will guide how the Department will work to combat climate change.
Biden Administration (2021-2025)
Strategic Framework for Addressing Climate Change
On October 21, 2021, DHS released its Strategic Framework for Addressing Climate Change, which will guide how the Department will work to combat climate change. DHS's report is broken into five lines of effort:
- “Empower Individuals and Communities to Build Climate Resilience,”
- “Build Readiness to Respond to Increases in Climate-Driven Emergencies,”
- “Incorporate Foresight and Climate Science into Strategy, Policy, Programs, and Budgets,”
- “Invest in a Sustainable and Resilient DHS,” and
- “Develop a Climate Change-Informed DHS Workforce”
First Trump Administration (2017-2021)
N/A
Climate Change Action Group
On January 27, 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order 14008 (Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad). Among other directives, Section 103(e) of the Executive Order directed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to incorporate climate risks into relevant strategy, planning, and programming documents and processes. In particular, Section 103(e) of the Executive Order directed DHS to consider the implications of climate change in the Arctic, along the country’s borders, and to National Critical Functions, including any relevant information from the Climate Risk Analysis performed by other agencies, when creating relevant strategy, planning, and programming documents and processes.
On April 22, 2021, DHS created the DHS Climate Change Action Group as a coordinating body comprised of the Department’s senior leadership intended to drive urgent action to address the climate crisis.
Biden Administration (2021-2025)
Proposed Legislation Codifying DHS Climate Change Working Group
On April 19, 2024, Congressman Dan Goldman introduced a bill to codify the DHS Climate Change Working Group, tasked “to coordinate departmental efforts to identify, address, and mitigate cross-functional impacts of global climate change with respect to the Department’s programs, operations, missions, assets, and personnel.” As of January 20, 2025, this bill remains unenacted.
- Homeland Security Climate Change Coordination Act, H.R. 8090, 118th Cong. (2024).
DHS Climate Change Working Group
On April 22, 2021, DHS created the DHS Climate Change Action Group as a coordinating body comprised of the Department’s senior leadership intended to drive urgent action to address the climate crisis. This group reports directly to the Secretary of DHS, and is tasked with six priorities:
- Analyzing, on an ongoing basis, the impacts of climate change on DHS missions, assets, and personnel;
- Adapting DHS operations, assets, and missions to account for the climate crisis via risk- based strategies;
- Coordinating DHS-wide sustainability operations to mitigate additional harm;
- Recommending specific, concrete steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions;
- Recommending specific, concrete steps to promote resilience and adaptation to reduce the multiple risks posed by the climate crisis; and,
- Recommending organizational and resource realignments as necessary to support the Department’s activities to address the climate crisis.
First Trump Administration (2017-2021)
N/A
Climate Literacy Strategy
On January 27, 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order 14008 (Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad). This executive order signaled that climate change would be a priority in policy-making across the federal government, established a number of new offices, and instructed agency heads to take steps toward developing climate policies. Section 211 of the Executive Order directed each agency to develop a draft action plan that describes steps the agency can take with regard to its facilities and operations to bolster adaptation and increase resilience to the impacts of climate change. In carrying out this executive order, DHS produced (1) on October 7, 2021, a “Climate Action Plan,” and (2) on October 21, 2021, a Strategic Framework for Addressing Climate Change, each of which supports building climate competence in the DHS workforce.
In January 2023, DHS released its Climate Literacy Strategy, which outlines a pathway to develop a climate-literate DHS workforce, ensuring all employees across the Department have a sufficient and up-to-date understanding of climate change and its relevance to the DHS mission.
Biden Administration (2021-2025)
Climate Literacy Strategy
In January 2023, DHS released its Climate Literacy Strategy, which outlines a pathway to develop a climate-literate DHS workforce, ensuring all employees across the Department have a sufficient and up-to-date understanding of climate change and its relevance to the DHS mission.
Climate Change Professionals Program
On January 12, 2022, DHS announced a new Climate Change Professionals Program under the umbrella of the DHS Climate Change Action Group to be run by the Office of the Chief Readiness Support Officer. The two-year program will recruit recent graduates and current federal employees to support the Department’s growing focus on adapting to climate change and improving resilience.
Strategic Framework for Addressing Climate Change
On October 21, 2021, DHS released its Strategic Framework for Addressing Climate Change, which will guide how the Department will work to combat climate change. DHS's report is broken into five lines of effort. Line five indicates that DHS will work to “Develop a Climate Change-Informed DHS Workforce.”
Climate Action Plan
On October 7, 2021, the DHS published a “Climate Action Plan,” which outlines a plan for DHS to remain mission-resilient to climate change while reducing its impact on the environment. Priority Action 5 of this plan aims to increase climate literacy across the DHS workforce.
First Trump Administration (2017-2021)
N/A
NEPA
On June 16, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a notice in the Federal Register that it has adopted 27 categorical exclusions (CEs) from the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that were previously established by other agencies, as authorized by NEPA section 109.
Second Trump Administration (2025-2028)
On June 16, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a notice in the Federal Register that it has adopted 27 categorical exclusions (CEs) from the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that were previously established by other agencies, as authorized by NEPA section 109.