Sec. 6. National Climate Adaptation and Resilience Strategy
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Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Chief Resilience Officer and the Working Groups shall jointly submit to the President and Congress a National Climate Adaptation and Resilience Strategy. Not later than the date that is 3 years after the date on which the Chief Resilience Officer and the Working Groups jointly submit the Strategy to the President and Congress under paragraph (1), and every 3 years thereafter, the Chief Resilience Officer and the Working Groups shall jointly submit an updated version of the Strategy to the President and Congress to account for— new science related to climate change, resilience, and adaptation; relevant changes in Federal Government structure, congressional authorities, or appropriations; and any other necessary improvements or changes identified by the Chief Resilience Officer.
The Strategy shall describe strategies for the Federal Government, in partnership with non-Federal partners, to address the vulnerabilities of the United States to climate change described in the National Climate Assessment or other relevant analyses identified by the Chief Resilience Officer to ensure that— the United States has an overarching strategic vision to respond to climate change that— identifies national climate resilience goals and guides national climate adaptation efforts; facilitates the incorporation of the climate resilience goals identified under clause
(i)into relevant national programs, operations, and strategies; develops proactive, long-term, scenario-based strategies to plan for and respond to current and future climate impacts to human communities, natural resources and public land, and infrastructure and other physical assets; emphasizes forward-thinking adaptation strategies that seek to overcome repeated climate impacts to vulnerable systems and communities; prioritizes climate resilience efforts to support the most vulnerable human communities and the most urgent national resilience challenges, as determined by the Chief Resilience Officer in consultation with the Working Groups; avoids unnecessary redundancies and inefficiencies in the national planning for and response to climate change; and recognizes the vulnerability of natural systems to climate change and underscores the importance of promoting ecosystem resilience to preserve the intrinsic value of nature and support ecosystem services relied on by human beings; Federal investments in Federal and non-Federal infrastructure and assets promote climate resilience to the maximum extent practicable; and the adaptive capacity and resilience of State, local, and territorial governments, governments of Indian Tribes, and governments of Freely Associated States are maximized to the maximum extent practicable. In developing the Strategy, the Chief Resilience Officer and Working Groups shall consider the recommendations of the Council. In addition to the overarching strategies developed in accordance with paragraph (3), the Strategy shall include the following: Strategies to address the limitations, redundancies, and opportunities for improved resilience operations of the Federal Government that are identified in the Operations Report. Strategies to better prepare the United States for the adverse impacts experienced or anticipated to be experienced as a result of— rapid-onset climate hazards; slow-onset climate hazards; compound climate hazards; and cascading climate hazards. 1 or more strategies to educate, engage, or develop the skills of the workforce of the represented agencies with respect to topics related to climate change vulnerability and resilience to promote effective Federal resilience operations. An identification of opportunities and appropriate circumstances for represented agencies to better utilize natural infrastructure as an adaptation strategy. 1 or more strategies for represented agencies to better collaborate and work directly with non-Federal partners to increase the resilience and adaptive capacity of State, local, and territorial governments, the governments of Indian Tribes, the governments of Freely Associated States, and other non-Federal partners. 1 or more strategies to educate non-Federal partners about the availability of Federal funding opportunities identified in the Operations Report under section 5(2)(B), including the development of a centralized, cross-agency portal that allows non-Federal partners to easily identify and apply for appropriate Federal funding opportunities for the specific resilience needs of those non-Federal partners. 1 or more strategies to clarify, simplify, and harmonize the planning requirements and application processes for State, local, and territorial governments, the governments of Indian Tribes, and the governments of Freely Associated States to access Federal funds for climate adaptation and resilience efforts across represented agencies. 1 or more strategies to identify under-resourced communities and communities with low adaptive capacity and resilience and to directly support those communities in applying for Federal funds for climate adaptation and resilience efforts. 1 or more strategies to support the retreat or relocation of human communities in areas that are at increasing risk from climate change, in particular from slow-onset climate hazards, including strategies to better manage equitable property buyouts, managed retreat, or relocation options for communities in those areas. 1 or more strategies to increase the accessibility and utility of climate information that is produced, published, or hosted by the Federal Government, including strategies to better collaborate across the represented agencies and work with non-Federal partners— to provide the high-quality, locally relevant climate information and, where practicable and useful, transparent and replicable downscaled climate projections that are necessary to support local-level adaptation efforts; to establish improved methods of communicating climate risk and other relevant climate information; to better educate non-Federal partners about the available resources for climate information; and to assist non-Federal partners in selecting and using appropriate climate information or related tools. Standardized procedures to synthesize, align, and update climate information produced, published, or hosted by the Federal Government to create arrays of standardized national, regional, and, where applicable, local climate information for adaptation planning. An assessment of the necessity and utility of developing or improving a centralized clearinghouse and dedicated Federal program for climate information to better provide climate information to end users. 1 or more strategies to develop the centralized clearinghouse or dedicated Federal program described in clause (iii), if such an effort is determined to be necessary by the Chief Resilience Officer. At the discretion of the Chief Resilience Officer, 1 or more strategies to develop or improve resilience metrics and indicators to assist the Federal Government and non-Federal partners— to the maximum extent practicable, to consistently measure the resilience of human communities, natural systems, and physical assets to climate change; to set baselines and targets to measurably increase climate resilience over time; and to better monitor and assess the effectiveness of various resilience-building activities after implementation. 1 or more strategies to help prioritize Federal funding expenditures for adaptation and resilience in consideration of the greatest vulnerabilities. 1 or more strategies to create financial incentives for adaptation and resilience efforts. A review of the cost-benefit analysis methodologies and discount rates used by represented agencies for all Federal investments, including a review of the implications of those methodologies and discount rates for climate adaptation and resilience. Recommendations to improve the methodologies described in clause
(iii)to reflect— the added value of resilience planning and construction methodologies over the lifetime of a project or unit of infrastructure; the benefits of natural infrastructure investments; the potential value of retreat and relocation as adaptation solutions; and to what extent existing cost-benefit analysis methodologies lead to inequitable outcomes or outcomes that increase climate vulnerability. Strategies to ensure that the costs, benefits, and risks resulting from climate resilience efforts, including funding allocations, the methodologies for determining funding allocations, and existing and future policies, are equitably distributed among sectors of society, types of communities, and geographies. Strategies to ensure that federally supported climate resilience efforts are— designed in consultation with the communities that will be affected by those efforts; and centered on the needs of those communities. To the greatest extent practicable, 1 or more strategies to integrate social equity considerations across all aspects of the Strategy. Concurrently with the Strategy and each update of the Strategy, the Chief Resilience Officer and the Working Groups shall jointly submit to the President and Congress an Implementation Plan that describes how represented agencies intend to carry out the Strategy, which shall include— a description of the roles and responsibilities of each represented agency in carrying out each element of the Strategy described in subsection (a); a plan to enter into such interagency agreements between and among represented agencies, partnerships with non-Federal entities, and other agreements for coordination between and among the Federal Government and non-Federal partners as may be necessary to facilitate a unified national plan to build resilience to climate change; and the use of any relevant metrics and indicators described in subsection (a)(5)(D). Not later than 2 years following the completion of each Strategy under subsection (a)(1) and each Implementation Plan, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to the President and Congress a report that assesses— the extent to which the Strategy and Implementation Plan have been carried out by the Federal Government, which shall be judged, as appropriate, based on any metrics and indicators developed to track progress in increasing resilience under subsection (a)(5)(D); the effectiveness of the actions taken under the Strategy and Implementation Plan and the resulting outcomes of those actions in building national resilience to climate change; and the progress made towards the development of an effective whole-of-government effort to build resilience to the climate vulnerabilities described in the National Climate Assessment or other relevant analyses identified by the Chief Resilience Officer, including recommendations for additional steps necessary to reach this goal. The Chief Resilience Officer shall— publish draft and final versions of the Strategy and Implementation Plan, and each update to the Strategy and Implementation Plan; and through publication in the Federal Register, solicit comments from the public on the draft versions of the documents published under paragraph
(1)for a period of 60 days, which the Chief Resilience Officer and the Working Groups shall consider before submitting final versions of the Strategy and Implementation Plan, and updates to the Strategy and Implementation Plan, to the President and Congress.