The Climate Action Plan is an environmental plan by
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
, the 44th President of the United States, that proposed a reduction in
carbon dioxide emissions
Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China an ...
. It included preserving forests, encouraging the use of alternate fuels, and increased study of
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...
. The plan was first prepared in 2008 and had then been updated every two years.
President Obama's last Climate Action Plan, issued in June 2013, included regulations to industry with the ultimate goal of cutting domestic carbon emission, preparing the U.S. for impending
effects of climate change
The effects of climate change impact the physical environment, ecosystems and human societies. The environmental effects of climate change are broad and far-reaching. They affect the water cycle, oceans, sea and land ice ( glaciers), sea le ...
, and working internationally to
address climate change.
Among the regulations outlined in the plan were initiatives to increase natural disaster
preparedness
Preparedness is a research-based set of actions that are taken as precautionary measures in the face of potential disasters. Preparedness is an important quality in achieving goals and in avoiding and mitigating negative outcomes.
There are differ ...
, create and improve existing hospitals, and modernize infrastructure to better withstand
extreme weather
Extreme weather or extreme climate events includes unexpected, unusual, severe, or unseasonal weather; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution—the range that has been seen in the past. Often, extreme events are based on a locat ...
.
The plan would have support conservation of land and water resources and developing actionable climate science, and encouraged other countries to take action to address climate change, including reducing deforestation and lowering subsidies that increase use of
fossil fuels
A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels ma ...
. The plan specifically mentioned methane, building efficiency, wind, solar and hydroelectricity.
White House staff members who were directly tasked with implementation of the plan included
Heather Zichal and
Michelle Patron
Michelle Naomi (Billig) Patron (born 1974) is an energy policy expert who currently serves as the director of sustainability policy at Microsoft. From 2013 to 2015, she served in the White House as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Dire ...
.
Cancellation and reinstatement of the Climate Action Plan
On the first day of the presidency of
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
, the White House website announced that Obama's Climate Action Plan would be eliminated, stating it is 'harmful and unnecessary'. In March 2017, Trump signed an executive order to officially nullify Obama's Clean Power Plan in an effort, it said, of reviving the coal industry.
In January 2021, on the Inauguration Day of U.S. president
Joe Biden, Trump's executive order was revoked by the executive order "Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis", thereby re-instating the Obama Climate Action Plan.
See also
*
Climate Action Plan
Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorological ...
*
Climate change in the United States
Climate change in the United States has led to the country warming by 2.6°F (1.4°C) since 1970. Due to climate change, the climate of the United States is shifting in ways that are widespread and varied between regions. From 2010 to 2019, the ...
*
National Climate Assessment
The National Climate Assessment (NCA) is a United States government interagency ongoing effort on climate change science conducted under the auspices of the Global Change Research Act of 1990. The NCA is a major product of the U.S. Global Change Re ...
*
National Research Council, report on climate change
*
State of the Climate
References
* Executive Office of the President. June 2013. ''The President’s Climate Action Plan.'' Washington, D. C.: whitehouse.gov, retrieved June 25, 2013 Link
'' President Obama is taking action on climate change ''
External links
President Obama's Climate Action Plan. 2nd anniversary progress reportClimate change and President Obama's action plan(White House)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Presidential Climate Action Plan
Air pollution
Emissions reduction
Presidency of Barack Obama
Climate change in the United States
Climate action plans