ICYMI: President Biden Announces Historic Action to Tackle the Climate Crisis and Build Community Climate Resilience

Yesterday, during a visit to Palo Alto, California, President Biden announced the latest actions the Biden-Harris Administration is taking to tackle the climate crisis and better protect communities from extreme weather events through the President's Investing in America agenda.

During his visit, the President announced that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is launching a first-ever $575 million Climate Resilience Regional Challenge to help coastal and Great Lakes communities, including Tribal communities in those regions, become more resilient to extreme weather and other impacts of the climate crisis. The funding will support innovative coastal resilience and adaptation solutions, such as building natural infrastructure, planning and preparing for community-led relocation, and protecting public access to coastal natural resources, that protect communities and ecosystems from sea level rise, tidal flooding hurricanes, storm surge, among other severe climate impacts.

In addition, the President highlighted a $2.3 billion investment in states, Territories, Tribes, and the District of Columbia over the next five years to bolster grid resilienceacross the country. The President also announced that later this year, he will convene local, state, Tribal, and territorial leaders for a White House climate resilience summit, where leaders will develop a roadmap for ensuring we build more climate-resilient communities all across America.

These actions build on President Biden's historic climate agenda that is creating good-paying jobs, building a clean energy economy, shoring up America's energy security, and protecting the environment for generations to come.

Read coverage below:

Los Angeles Times: Biden announces funding to combat climate change, raises campaign money, during swing through California
[Taryn Luna, 6/19/23]

The financial commitment from the president is expected to only enhance Biden's strong political support in California and among Americans concerned about the environment, two constituencies critical to the president's bid for a second term. […] "There's simply no president in modern American history that's done more to deliver on the promise of addressing head on the issue of climate change than President Joe Biden," Newsom said Monday.

San Francisco Chronicle: Biden, in Palo Alto, announces large pot of money in funding to fight climate change
[Danielle Echeverria. 6/19/23]

Standing in front of salt marshes at the edge of the San Francisco Bay on Monday, President Biden announced $600 million in funding for coastal communities building projects to protect against the impacts of climate change, as well as $2.3 billion to bolster electric grid resilience. […] During his remarks, the president specifically pointed to local nonprofit Climate Resilient Communities, which works directly with communities to adapt to climate change. Violet Wulf-Saena, the organization's founder and executive director, was at the event and shouted with joy when the president called out her group, which has less than a dozen people on staff. "I almost cried when he said it," she said in an interview with The Chronicle. "I'm up in the clouds." She said that she was happy to hear about the president's focus on helping communities adapt to the impacts of climate change. […] She said she was in awe of the amount of money being directed toward the issue.

The Mercury News: President Biden crisscrosses Silicon Valley as Florida Gov. DeSantis slips into town for busy day of fundraising
President Biden touts $600 million climate funding at Palo Alto nature preserve
[John Woolfolk, Paul Rogers, and Julia Prodis Sulek, 6/19/23]

In the speech, Biden touted $642 million in federal funding for climate programs. Of that, $67 million will be coming from the U.S. Department of Energy to help California upgrade its power grid to better deal with heat waves and risk from wildfires. The other $575 million, which the White House on Monday called the "Climate Resilience Regional Challenge," is funding that already was approved by Congress last year as part of Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, a sweeping package that included everything from requiring Medicare to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices to beefing up IRS enforcement of tax evasion to expanded subsidies for solar, wind and other renewable power.

Palo Alto Weekly: In Palo Alto, President Biden announces $2.6 billion for climate resilience, modernizing electrical grid
[Sue Dremann, 6/19/23]

Standing outside amid blustery winds, Biden announced the latest funding: nearly $600 million for climate resilience through the launch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's "Climate Resilience Regional Challenge," and $2 billion for building the electrical grid, a move that would also create jobs, he said. [State Senator Becker] called the $2 billion commitment for electrical grid expansion, "an exciting development from the federal government." "What we've seen in the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Act are historic," he said. "What the Biden-Harris administration has done, they've unleashed just a tremendous amount of funding for our clean energy transition. And, again, that's around all renewables: that's around solar wind, offshore wind, onshore wind, offshore wind, geothermal – and transmission.

Scripps: President Biden announces $600 million in climate investments
[James Packard, 6/19/23]

President Joe Biden announced a more than $600 million investment in climate resilience Monday, a pot of money that could help vulnerable communities better withstand the extremes of a destabilizing climate. "We're investing in the people and the places that have been hit the hardest but who are also on the front lines of leading us forward," Biden said Monday while speaking at a marsh near Palo Alto, California, which was once a community landfill. […] For many, the announcements are a welcome sign of a government finally getting on board with investments long overdue — investments to protect Americans from a potentially deadly climate, one less stable and more extreme.

CNN: Biden touts his climate credentials in California
[Donald Judd and Sam Fossum, 6/19/23]

President Joe Biden on Monday touted his administration's record on climate change, which he called "the most aggressive climate action ever," while hitting Republicans in Congress for trying to block it.[…] During his remarks Biden recounted previous trips to California during which he surveyed wildfire damage, noting that last year natural disasters caused $165 billion in damages across the country. "But the worsening impacts are not inevitable – building on our incredible efforts locally, my administration is doing all we can to help recover and build, so we can be prepared to adapt," he said, outlining a series of new steps specifically focused on climate resilience. Among those steps are the $575 million "Climate Resilience Regional Challenge," which will be launched by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The initiative will help coastal and Great Lakes communities "become more resilient to extreme weather and other impacts of the climate crisis," according to a White House fact sheet. Other moves include $2 billion in Department of Energy funding – including $67 million for California alone – to modernize the electrical grid and make it more climate resilient, and the first-ever White House Climate resilience summit. The funding is provided through the Inflation Reduction Act, the president's signature health care and climate legislation.

The Hill: Biden unveils steps to boost climate resilience
[Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk, 6/19/23]

The president announced $600 million in funding for climate resilience projects during a visit to California on Monday. Biden made the announcement during remarks on Monday at Palo Alto's Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Interpretive Center and Preserve. The president committed more than $600 million "to better protect our nation's power grid from extreme weather events and prepare coastal and Great Lakes communities for climate change impacts like sea level rise, tidal flooding and storm surge." The president also announced a White House-hosted summit later this year on improving communities' climate resilience, which will accompany the release of a National Climate Resilience Framework.

Forbes: Biden Launching New $600 Million Climate Change Initiative—Focused On Great Lakes And Coasts
[Mary Whitfill Roeloffs, 6/19/23]

TOPLINE President Joe Biden is expected to announce more than $600 million in climate investments meant to fight rising sea levels, protect coastal communities and modernize California's electric grid, according to multiple reports, in his administration's latest initiative aimed at mitigating climate change. KEY FACTS Biden will begin a three-day trip to northern California on Monday that is reportedly expected to start with an announcement of new federal funding for several climate resilience projects. The lion's share of the investment will reportedly go toward a $575 million National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration project to help coastal and Great Lakes communities become more resilient to extreme weather and other impacts of the climate crisis. Funding for the project is coming from both the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Bay Area's ABC affiliate reported.