On February 14, 2025, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem issued a memo ordering senior officials to “eliminate all climate change activities and the use of climate change terminology in DHS policies and programs, to the extent permitted by law.” The memo cited President Trump’s rescission of numerous climate-related executive orders issued by President Biden as the reason for the policy change. If implemented, the memo will likely result in the termination of climate mitigation and resilience programs established under President Biden by DHS and FEMA, including billions in federal grants to address climate-related risk, policies designed to assess and mitigate disaster risk to federally-funded infrastructure, and interagency working groups tasked with assessing climate-related risks and impacts across the federal government.
On February 19, 2025, a senior career official at FEMA issued a memo titled “Recovery Guidance for Terminology Changes” to agency staff on how to “comply with Executive Actions and DHS memos to remove language and policy and doctrine concerning gender, DEI, immigration and climate change.” The memo required staff to remove key words and phrases from FEMA documents, including “social justice,” “global warming,” “climate resilience,” and “whole community,” among other terms.