White House Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience Recommended Actions

This briefing summarizes the recommendations of the State, Local and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience, established by President Obama via Executive Order 13653. The Task Force provided 35 key recommendations across seven themes to help the federal government support community resilience against climate change. The document also details executive actions taken by the White House in response to these recommendations and specific funding requests in the Fiscal Year 2016 budget.

• The Task Force established five guiding principles for federal action: requiring climate vulnerability considerations in all policies and investments; pursuing actions that simultaneously increase resilience and reduce greenhouse gas emissions; strengthening partnerships across jurisdictions and sectors; providing actionable information and tools for decision-making; and ensuring consultation and cooperation with tribal and indigenous communities.
• Recommendations for infrastructure and community resilience include developing federal resilience standards for building and infrastructure siting, prioritizing 'green infrastructure' like wetlands and coral reefs, and amending the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to mandate the study of greenhouse gas emissions and climate impacts for proposed federal actions.
• To address human health and population resilience, the Task Force recommends creating guidance and programs for vulnerable groups, including low-income and tribal populations, expanding the CDC's Climate-Ready States and Cities Initiative to handle shifting disease distributions, and exploring assistance for communities facing displacement due to coastal erosion and drought.
• The Task Force suggests reforming disaster recovery and hazard mitigation by revamping the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) and Pre-Disaster Grant Program to operate as block grants, reducing expensive federal reviews. It also recommends strengthening National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) standards to prevent building in natural buffers like wetlands.
• The White House implemented several immediate responses, including the Climate Resilience Toolkit (toolkit.climate.gov), a $13.1 million 3-D Elevation Program for flood and erosion mapping, a $1 billion National Disaster Resilience Competition for recovery models, and a $10 million Federal-Tribal Climate Resilience Partnership and Technical Assistance Program.
• The Fiscal Year 2016 Budget Request included significant funding for resilience, such as $400 million for NFIP Risk Mapping, $200 million for FEMA's Pre-disaster Mitigation Grant Program, $108 million for researching natural carbon sequestration, and $50 million for American Indian Tribes and Alaska Native Villages.

APA

Small, L. (2015). White House Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience Recommended Actions. Environmental and Energy Study Institute. https://www.eesi.org/files/IssueBrief_White_House_Climate_Task_Force_Recommendations_040115.pdf

Chicago

Small, Laura. White House Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience Recommended Actions. Environmental and Energy Study Institute, 2015. https://www.eesi.org/files/IssueBrief_White_House_Climate_Task_Force_Recommendations_040115.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Small |first1=Laura |title=White House Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience Recommended Actions |publisher=Environmental and Energy Study Institute |date=April 2015 |url=https://www.eesi.org/files/IssueBrief_White_House_Climate_Task_Force_Recommendations_040115.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{small2015white, author = {Small, Laura}, title = {{White House Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience Recommended Actions}}, institution = {Environmental and Energy Study Institute}, year = {2015}, month = apr, url = {https://www.eesi.org/files/IssueBrief_White_House_Climate_Task_Force_Recommendations_040115.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }