ocean climate action plan turns one

One year ago, President Biden announced America’s first-ever Ocean Climate Action Plan, a government-wide strategy led by the White House to leverage the power of the ocean as a source of incredibly important climate solutions. 

The Ocean Climate Action Plan is this administration's commitment to environmental justice and public engagement. Paired with the unprecedented ocean and coastal investments from the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law positions the United States as a global leader on comprehensively addressing ocean and coastal climate priorities.

Our favorite highlights from the Biden Administration over the last year are:

• Promoting coastal resilience with $3.3 billion to better prepare coastal communities for climate impacts and boost ocean and climate research;

  Releasing an Ocean Justice Strategy to integrate environmental justice principles into the Federal government’s ocean activities, addressing historic inequities and underinvestment in communities connected to the ocean and Great Lakes; and

  Advancing ocean protection by allocating $30 million to support sanctuary designations, representing the single largest investment in sanctuary designations in the program’s 50-year history, and $50 million to sanctuary infrastructure.

While all of this is commendable and exciting, there is still so much more the Administration should be doing to prohibit new offshore oil and gas leasing in public federal waters. We look forward to continuing to urge the Administration toward declaring a climate emergency and utilizing the Ocean Climate Action Plan and Ocean Justice Strategy to identify and implement a better, more just transition to renewable resources.