First on CNN: New FEMA plan puts climate crisis front and center after Trump administration erased it

President Joe Biden’s Federal Emergency Management Agency is putting climate front and center in its new four-year strategic planning document, after the Trump administration erased all mention of climate from its previous plan.

Addressing climate resilience is one of three main goals outlined in FEMA’s plan for 2022-2026, which directs how it will respond to disasters and spend federal funds. The document was shared first with CNN.

The new plan is not only a reversal from that of the Trump administration, but puts even more emphasis on the climate crisis than the plans produced by the Obama administration.

“We must recognize that we are facing a climate crisis and educate ourselves and the nation about the impacts our changing climate pose to the field of emergency management,” Biden’s FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said in the plan.

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the November jobs report in the State Dining Room of the White House on December 3, 2021 in Washington, DC. According to the U.S. Labor Department, the economy added 210,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate fell to 4.2%.

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The plan emphasizes understanding how climate is changing and exacerbating natural disasters – more frequent flooding, wetter hurricanes and increasingly destructive wildfires – and it also underscores how the agency will try to more equitably distribute funding to historically underserved communities.

“The intersection of the severe impacts of climate change and the reality of inequalities that exist in communities before disasters strikes is what we’re aggressively addressing at FEMA,” Criswell told CNN in a statement.

The new document focuses on three key areas: a focus on equity in emergency management response and diversifying the agency’s workforce, bolstering climate resilience around the country and strengthening its emergency management workforce.

“Climate change is the greatest challenge facing emergency managers today—and it will continue to shape the next several decades,” the plan reads. According to the document, the agency will fuse climate science into its policy, programs, partnerships, field operations and training, according to the report.

The report also stressed FEMA plans to help communities adapt to a changing climate. FEMA will use most of the $6.8 billion it received from the bipartisan infrastructure bill to help communities deal with natural disasters, including flooding.

Philip Adams walks through what remains of his living room and kitchen at his destroyed home in Lockport, Louisiana, on Monday, September 6.

Damage is seen on the roof of a New Orleans apartment complex on Sunday, September 5. Elderly residents were still living at the building with water-soaked carpets and no power, a week after Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana.

Shoppers buy supplies at a grocery store in New Orleans despite the power still being out on Thursday, September 2.

Cows are herded into a pen in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, on Thursday. "All of our neighbors' cows are mixed up in this bunch, so we're here rescuing them, getting them off the road and out of the water," Chris Shivers said when asked why his group was herding the cows. "They've been standing in the water now for several days without anything to eat or drink, so they're under a lot of stress and have seen a lot. The hurricane is a disaster, and these cows will probably never be the same."

National Guard members unload ice at a distribution center in Montegut, Louisiana, on Thursday.

Unattended horses are seen during a storm in Belle Chasse on Thursday.

Tiffany Miller embraces her daughter Desilynn, left, and godchild Charleigh after the family returned to their destroyed home in Golden Meadow, Louisiana, on Wednesday, September 1.

This aerial photo shows the hurricane aftermath in Grand Isle, Louisiana, on August 31. Grand Isle, Louisiana's last remaining inhabited barrier island at the southern tip of the state, bore the brunt of the Category 4 hurricane.

The Maldonado family stands outside their damaged home in Barataria, Louisiana, on August 31. "I've lost everything in my trailer because of the hurricane," said Fusto Maldonado when asked about the storm's impact. "I've lost everything, my family has lost everything, and we're now trying to find help. We all live in this area and now it's all gone."

A dead fish lies on a road in Leeville, Louisiana, on August 31.

A shrimper works to salvage his partially submerged boat in Golden Meadow on August 31.

A palm tree is bent in half in Galliano, Louisiana, on August 31.

People wait for a gas truck to arrive at a gas station in New Orleans on August 31.

Destroyed homes are surrounded by floodwaters near Point-aux-Chenes, Louisiana, on August 31.

Workers remove a tree that fell on a home in Houma, Louisiana.

What's left of a home stands in Grand Isle on August 31.

Michael Wilson stands in the doorway of his flood-damaged home in Norco, Louisiana, on August 30.

Homes near Norco are surrounded by floodwaters on August 30.

A rain shower soaks evacuees in LaPlace, Louisiana, on August 30.

A damaged McDonald's sign is seen in Raceland, Louisiana, on August 30.

A man rides a bicycle in front of a damaged building in Houma on August 30.

An oil slick is seen on top of floodwaters in Kraemer, Louisiana, on August 30.

Residents wave at a US Coast Guard helicopter while waiting to be rescued from their flooded home in LaPlace on August 30.

Theophilus Charles sits inside his damaged home in Houma on August 30.

A highway is flooded near LaPlace on August 30.

Residents are rescued from floodwaters in LaPlace on August 30.

A damaged historic building lies in ruins in New Orleans' Central Business District on August 30.

A barge damages a bridge connecting Lafitte and Jean Lafitte, Louisiana, on August 30.

Marquita Jenkins stands in the ruins of her hair salon in LaPlace on August 30.

A destroyed car is seen after an apartment building burned overnight in Kenner, Louisiana.

A resident walks through floodwaters in LaPlace on August 30.

Siblings watch men assess damage outside a hotel in Houma on August 30.

A woman pushes a stroller past a boarded-up building in the French Quarter of New Orleans on August 30.

A downed tree lies on a house in New Orleans on August 30.

Members of the Louisiana National Guard help with recovery efforts in New Orleans on August 30.

A man looks up next to a section of roof that was ripped off a building in the French Quarter of New Orleans on August 30.

Lights from a TV broadcast illuminate an otherwise dark Bourbon Street in New Orleans on August 30.

Montegut Fire Chief Toby Henry walks back to his fire truck in the rain as firefighters cut through trees on the road in Bourg, Louisiana, on August 29.

Firefighters cut through downed trees on a road in Bourg on August 29.

Barges are seen docked on the Mississippi River as Hurricane Ida hit Destrehan, Louisiana, on August 29.