The White House unveils climate executive actions

President Biden announced a new series of executive actions yesterday aimed at addressing climate change, referring to the situation as an “emergency” but stopping short of making a formal emergency declaration (which would give federal agencies heightened powers).

📝 More deets… The unveiled measures include $2.3 billion in funding to help states tackle climate-related issues like dealing with excessive heat, controlling floods, or retrofitting old buildings.

• Biden also directed federal agencies to move ahead with a project to eventually power 3+ million US homes using offshore wind turbines located off the Atlantic coast and in the Gulf of Mexico.

📸 Big picture: The White House’s announcement comes days after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) told Democratic leaders that he isn’t prepared to support any climate legislation in the evenly-divided Senate while US inflation remains elevated, effectively killing any chance of a bill passing Congress.

🌍 Zoom out: Rising temperatures around the world have caused a record number of heat waves, droughts, and wildfires in recent years, per the WSJ.

• This week in Europe – where temps rarely reach above 100°F – several countries recorded temps at or near all-time highs, including the UK (104.5°F), Wales (98.8°F) and France (104.9°F). More than 1,900 people in Portugal and Spain died from heat-related causes over the same period.