Department of Commerce
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 Adaptation Plans
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 the Department of Commerce, 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.
The Department of Commerce's 2024–2027 Climate Adaptation Plan, initially published on May 31, 2024, "establishes protocols to ensure a climate-ready workforce resilient facilities, lands and waters, climate-resilient supply chains, operational climate data and tools for decision-making, and climate resilience into external funding opportunities." Alongside identifying hazards to the Department's facilities, operations, and personnel, the plan notes the significant role that the Department (and particularly the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)) plays in "provid[ing] actionable weather, water, and climate data, forecasts, warnings, and other environmental information" to government actors and the public.
Biden Administration (2021-2025)
2024-2027 Climate Adaptation Plan
On June 20, 2024, major federal agencies, including the Department of Commerce, 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.
The Department of Commerce's 2024–2027 Climate Adaptation Plan, initially published on May 31, 2024, "establishes protocols to ensure a climate-ready workforce resilient facilities, lands and waters, climate-resilient supply chains, operational climate data and tools for decision-making, and climate resilience into external funding opportunities." Alongside identifying hazards to the Department's facilities, operations, and personnel, the plan notes the significant role that the Department (and particularly the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)) plays in "provid[ing] actionable weather, water, and climate data, forecasts, warnings, and other environmental information" to government actors and the public.
2022 Climate Adaptation Progress Report
On June 30, 2022, the Department of Commerce released its 2022 Climate Adaptation Progress Report, which outlined the steps the Department had taken to implement the 2021 Climate Action Plan for Adaptation and Resilience.
2021 Climate Adaptation and Resilience Plan
On October 7, 2021, twenty-three federal agencies, including the Department of Commerce, 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, the Department of Commerce released its 2021 Climate Action Plan for Adaptation and Resilience. The Department of Commerce plan identifies 5 "priority action items" for the Department:
- Foster and enhance the resilience of vulnerable communities against the key climate risks of extreme heat, drought, wildfires, flooding, coastal inundation, and impacts to fisheries.
- Support the development of climate-ready infrastructure via the development of forward-looking building standards
- Improve the ability to process patent application filings for climate change adaptation-related technologies in a timely manner.
- Improve current analyses and systematically update projections on the impacts of climate change on the national economy as new data is available.
- Further embed climate considerations into the Economic Development Administration’s grant making, through investment priorities, grant criteria, application evaluation, and economic development planning.
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)
Executive Order on Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth
On March 28, 2017, President Trump signed Executive Order 13738 (Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth). Among other things, the executive order revoked President Obama’s Executive Order 13653 (discussed below).
Obama Administration (2009-2017)
Climate Vulnerability Assessment
The Department of Commerce conducted a climate vulnerability assessment in 2011 and updated the assessment in 2014, as part of its Climate Change Adaptation Strategy in response to EO 13653 (discussed below). These assessments identified (1) risks to the department's infrastructure, facilities, and operations management, (2) risks to economic growth in sectors within the Department's regulatory and operational remit (e.g., risks to ports, supply chains, etc.), (3) the public and private need for detailed data and information generated by the Department, among other things. (For more discussion, see the Department of Commerce's 2021 Climate Adaptation Plan)
Executive Order on Preparing the United States for the Impacts of Climate Change
In November 2013, President Obama issued Executive Order 13653 (Preparing the United States for the Impacts of Climate Change), which directed federal agencies to take various steps to prepare for climate change impacts and to support state and local resilience efforts. E.O. 13653 required each agency to evaluate agency climate change risks and vulnerabilities and to identify and manage the effects of climate change on the agency’s operations and mission in both the short and long term.