White House to agencies: Consider climate costs in next budget

By Zack Colman, Zack Colman

Published December 20, 2015

White House budgeteers want federal agencies to consider the costs of climate change when they submit their fiscal 2017 spending plans.

It's the first time the White House Office of Management and Budget has officially asked agencies to bake climate change costs into its projections. The directive applies to federal facilities, as the Obama administration said it wants buildings and other operations to be resilient to extreme weather, flooding and other events scientists have linked to a warming planet.

"We are making it very clear that this is a priority in proposals for capital funding. Why? Because making our Federal facility investments climate-smart reduces our fiscal exposure to the impacts of climate change. It's the right thing to do to run an efficient and effective government," Ali Zaidi, associate director for natural resources, energy and science at the Office of Management and Budget, said in a Wednesday blog post.

President Obama has used executive orders in the past to encourage agencies to consider the costs of a changing climate.