Timeline: Progress of President Obama's Climate Action Plan

The document outlines the progress of President Obama's Climate Action Plan (CAP) between June 2013 and August 2015. The plan focuses on three goals: cutting U.S. carbon pollution (including the Clean Power Plan and targets to reduce GHG emissions by 26-28% by 2025), preparing the U.S. for climate impacts through local and tribal leadership task forces, and leading international efforts via bilateral agreements with China, India, and Brazil.

• President Obama announced the Climate Action Plan (CAP) on June 25, 2013, with three primary goals: reducing domestic carbon pollution, preparing the United States for climate change impacts, and leading international efforts to address global climate change.
• To reduce domestic carbon pollution, the administration committed to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 26-28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. A central component of this effort is the Clean Power Plan, which finalized a rule on August 3, 2015, aiming to cut carbon emissions from existing power plants by 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.
• The administration implemented several measures to reduce specific potent greenhouse gases. This includes a plan to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40–45 percent from 2012 levels by 2025, and an EPA rule finalized on July 2, 2015, to reduce hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) emissions by 54 to 64 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2025.
• To improve climate resilience, the administration established the State, Local, and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience via an executive order on November 1, 2013. The Task Force released 35 key recommendations on November 17, 2014, emphasizing the need for federal agencies to integrate climate-related risks into decision-making and to cooperate with indigenous communities.
• The United States pursued bilateral climate agreements with major emitters to lead international efforts. Key deals include an agreement with China (November 11, 2014) where China agreed to peak carbon emissions by 2030 or earlier; a memorandum of understanding with India (January 25, 2015) focusing on energy security and clean energy; and a deal with Brazil (June 30, 2015) to increase renewable energy production to 20 percent of their energy portfolios by 2020 (later noted as 2030 in the detailed goal section).
• The administration utilized federal budgets and executive orders to drive climate action, including a fiscal year 2016 budget request that allocated $7.4 billion to clean energy technology programs and proposed repealing $4 billion in tax subsidies for fossil fuel producers.

APA

Gutin, O., & Ingargiola, B. (2015). Timeline: Progress of President Obama's Climate Action Plan. Environmental and Energy Study Institute. https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-timeline-progress-of-president-obama-climate-action-plan

Chicago

Gutin, Ori, and Brendan Ingargiola. Timeline: Progress of President Obama's Climate Action Plan. Environmental and Energy Study Institute, 2015. https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-timeline-progress-of-president-obama-climate-action-plan.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Gutin |first1=Ori |last2=Ingargiola |first2=Brendan |title=Timeline: Progress of President Obama's Climate Action Plan |publisher=Environmental and Energy Study Institute |date=5 August 2015 |url=https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-timeline-progress-of-president-obama-climate-action-plan |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{gutin2015timeline, author = {Gutin, Ori and Ingargiola, Brendan}, title = {{Timeline: Progress of President Obama's Climate Action Plan}}, institution = {Environmental and Energy Study Institute}, year = {2015}, month = aug, url = {https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-timeline-progress-of-president-obama-climate-action-plan}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }