New Obama Policy Requires Government Agencies to Consider Climate Change

Thanks to a new Obama administration policy that took six years to come to fruition, every agency in the federal government will have to factor in its effects on climate change forthwith, The Washington Post reports.

The Council on Environmental Quality advises that every decision be weighed against NEPA, or National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.

"That gives the public a chance to really weigh in on decision-making," Christy Goldfuss, managing director of the Council on Environmental Quality, told the Post. "This will really embody the climate change analysis of this administration, where we say the federal agencies have to consider this over time."

From Environmental Impact Statements to quantifying climate impacts of decisions made to calculating — direct and indirect — carbon dioxide emissions … the environmental community thinks it's momentous.

"Federal land management agencies should implement this guidance without delay, and use cutting-edge science to make climate-smart decisions," Chase Huntley, senior director of the Wilderness Society's energy and climate campaign, told the Post.

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