Points of View
Insights and analyses of emerging regulatory issues impacting financial services firms.
July 2022
President Biden announced several forthcoming executive actions intended to address the impacts of climate change. These actions, which specifically address extreme heat and offshore wind opportunities, engage multiple agencies, further prior initiatives, and provide additional funding and program expansion with the aim of improving climate resiliency, protecting vulnerable communities and workers, and expanding renewable energy opportunities and jobs. As outlined, these actions will include:
- FEMA: $2.3 billion in additional funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program investment in climate resilient infrastructure. This funding will support of the Administration’s Justice40 Initiative and prioritize “marginalized, overburdened, and underserved” communities.
- HHS: Expansion of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which promotes delivery of efficient air conditioning and community cooling centers, among other things, to provide a range of options to help states, Tribes, and territories respond to extreme heat and support vulnerable communities. Previously, the Administration had announced the release of $385 million through LIHEAP as part of the infrastructure law.
- DOI: Expansion of offshore Wind Energy Areas. The Department of the Interior will propose the first Wind Energy Areas in the Gulf of Mexico, a major step in expanding offshore wind opportunities in alignment with the Administration’s Federal-State Offshore Wind Implementation Partnership.
- DOL: Advancing efforts of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) National Emphasis Program to develop workplace standards for extreme heat as well as related efforts including the Environmental Protection Agency’s support of community communication strategies and the Department of Homeland Security’s Cooling Solutions Challenge.
KPMG Regulatory Insights will provide further detail on these and any other related executive actions as they are issued in the coming weeks.
Please refer to:
- White House Fact Sheet: President Biden’s Executive Actions on Climate to Address Extreme Heat and Boost Offshore Wind
- KPMG Regulatory Alert | Infrastructure law adds new funding avenues
- KPMG Special Alert | Immediate climate risk action
- KPMG Regulatory Alert | Environmental Justice: A New DOJ Strategy
- KPMG Regulatory Insights POV | Operationalizing Climate Risks
