GAO Calls for Improved National Priorities for Climate Change

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report calling on the federal government to improve and clarify national priorities related to climate change.  Acknowledging that "climate change poses risks to many environmental and economic systems, including agriculture, infrastructure, and ecosystems," GAO noted that national priorities need to be set and "better align them with federal funding decisions."  While "funding for climate change activities reported by OMB increased from $4.6 billion in 2003 to $8.8 billion in 2010," GAO noted that it "is organized in a complex, crosscutting system."

Two key factors were identified that "complicate efforts to align funding with priorities."

First, notwithstanding existing coordinating mechanisms...federal officials do not have a shared understanding of strategic priorities. This is in part due to inconsistent messages articulated in strategic plans and other policy documents....Second, respondents indicated that since mechanisms for aligning funding with priorities are nonbinding, they are limited when in conflict with agencies' own priorities.

GAO came up with two recommendations:

1) To improve the coordination and effectiveness of federal climate change programs and activities, the appropriate entities within the Executive Office of the President, including the Council on Environmental Quality, Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy, Office and Management and Budget, and Office of Science and Technology Policy, in consultation with Congress, should work together with relevant federal agencies and interagency coordinating bodies to clearly establish federal strategic climate change priorities, including the roles and responsibilities of the key federal entities, taking into consideration the full range of activities within the federal climate change enterprise.

2) To improve the coordination and effectiveness of federal climate change programs and activities, we recommend that the appropriate entities within the Executive Office of the President, including the Council on Environmental Quality, Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy, Office and Management and Budget, and Office of Science and Technology Policy, in consultation with Congress, should work together with relevant federal agencies and interagency coordinating bodies to assess the effectiveness of current practices for defining and reporting federal climate change funding and aligning funding with priorities, and make improvements to such practices as needed for Congress and the public to fully understand how climate change funds are spent.

For more information and to download a highlights page and the full report, go to the GAO page here.