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More than 200 tribes and four territories have published climate action plans with financial support from President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. The planning process is facilitated by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants, which offers a chance for tribal and territorial governments to develop strategies to reduce pollution and address environmental justice concerns. This is the first time this kind of large-scale climate planning has been accomplished across tribes, offering unprecedented opportunity to combat the climate crisis.
Over 200 Tribes and Four Territories Develop Climate Action Plans with Support from President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that more than 200 Tribes, along with American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, have developed climate action plans with financial backing from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda. This support stems from EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program, which empowers Tribal and territorial governments to develop strategies that reduce pollution and address environmental justice concerns while fostering a clean energy future.
“Climate change disproportionately affects Tribes,” said Kenneth Martin, Director of EPA’s American Indian Environmental Office. “A record number of Tribes and intertribal partnerships worked with EPA to create Priority Climate Action Plans to combat climate pollution. This is the first time climate planning on this scale has been achieved across Tribes. These plans hold an exceptional opportunity to combat the climate crisis and safeguard future generations.”
The Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program, created under the Inflation Reduction Act— the largest climate investment in U.S. history — is facilitating community-driven solutions to climate change and advancing America’s transition to clean energy. This program aligns with President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which aims to direct 40% of the benefits of federal climate and clean energy investments to disadvantaged communities burdened by pollution and underinvestment.
In the first phase of the program, EPA provided $250 million in grants to several entities, including more than 200 Tribes and four territories, for the development of ambitious climate action plans. Following that, grantees were given resources to create and submit Priority Climate Action Plans, focusing on high-priority, implementation-ready activities to reduce GHG emissions.
Each grantee aligned its PCAP with its own priorities and interests, while also prioritizing measures that benefit low-income and disadvantaged communities. For many Tribes and territories, these were their first climate action plans. These grants can also support efforts to ensure inclusion in climate discussions, improve public health, and stimulate economic growth by supporting new industries and developing workforce training programs.
The grants lay the groundwork for the second phase of the CPRG program: $4.6 billion in competitive implementation grants, available specifically to planning grant recipients and other eligible entities, to fund GHG reduction measures. PCAPs also help prepare Tribes and territories to access a broader set of funding opportunities, including other programs under President Biden’s Investing in America agenda.
In the coming months, all planning grant recipients will develop Comprehensive Climate Action Plans. EPA is committed to providing grant recipients with technical support, tools, and other resources throughout these planning processes.
The CPRG planning grants and competitive implementation funding will support the deployment of technologies to reduce GHG emissions and other harmful pollution, facilitate the transition to a low-carbon economy, promote Tribal sovereignty, and advance environmental justice.
View the Priority Climate Action Plans from CPRG planning grantees. For more information on the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants, visit our website.
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