Memo: EPA’s Climate Enforcement and Compliance Strategy

Overview from EPA article Addressing Climate Change in Enforcement and Compliance Assurance:

Following the mandate in President Biden’s Executive Order and EPA’s strategic plan, EPA’s Assistant Administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance issued EPA’s Climate Enforcement and Compliance Strategy on September 28, 2023, directing all EPA enforcement and compliance offices to address climate change, wherever appropriate, in every matter within their jurisdiction.

In particular, the strategy requires EPA’s enforcement and compliance programs to:

• Prioritize enforcement and compliance actions to mitigate climate change;

• Include climate adaptation and resilience in case conclusions, as appropriate; and

• Provide technical assistance to achieve climate-related solutions and build climate change capacity among EPA staff and our state and local partners.

The strategy also recognizes that while the impacts of climate change affect people in every region of the country, certain communities and individuals already overburdened by environmental stressors and with less access to the resources needed to adapt to and recover from climate change impacts are especially vulnerable. Under this strategy, EPA’s enforcement and compliance programs will consider climate equity as we factor climate change considerations into our enforcement and compliance activities.