Federal funding for climate change activities was enacted at $6.37 billion for FY2008; adding in the effects of tax incentives, the budgetary impact of climate change-related activities totaled $7.73 billion for FY2008. For FY2009, funding continues at or below those levels through March 6, 2009 under a Continuing Resolution ( P.L. These funds may help to achieve global participation in abatement of greenhouse gas emissions, and to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Opportunities to Improve the Federal Climate Change Effort

The packaging of mostly existing programs into a climate change strategy has resulted in an apparent lack of a unifying mission across agencies to address climate change. Funding for climate change activities has largely reflected departmental missions and support for each activity, rather than each activity's expected contribution to an over-arching strategy. The new Obama Administration is expected to provide more action-oriented leadership, but will face a challenge of understanding climate-related programs and funding, and aligning those into an effective cross-agency, inter-governmental mission. In sum, some Members of Congress and others have expressed interest in how federal funding may reflect and enable an overall strategy to address climate change. With deepening budget pressures, calls to expand funding to address climate change may face challenges in demonstrating program benefits that can compete effectively with other demands. In addition, with direction-changing pledges by the new President and an evolving Congressional debate over appropriate policies to address climate change, priorities among climate change activities will likely change. In addition, this review of federal funding of climate change activities suggests that there will be opportunities to better align funding with strategic policy goals, and to assure that programs are organized to accomplish those goals efficiently. 109 - 102 is provided below:
CLIMATE CHANGE REPORT- Not later than 60 days after the date on which the President's fiscal year 2007 budget request is submitted to Congress, the President shall submit a report to the Committees on Appropriations describing in detail the following—
(1) all Federal agency obligations and expenditures, domestic and international, for climate change programs and activities in fiscal year 2006, including an accounting of expenditures by agency with each agency identifying climate change activities and associated costs by line item as presented in the President's Budget Appendix; and
(2) all fiscal year 2005 obligations and estimated expenditures, fiscal year 2006 estimated expenditures and estimated obligations, and fiscal year 2007 requested funds by the United States Agency for International Development, by country and central program, for each of the following: (i) to promote the transfer and deployment of a wide range of United States clean energy and energy efficiency technologies; (ii) to assist in the measurement, monitoring, reporting, verification, and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions; (iii) to promote carbon capture and sequestration measures; (iv) to help meet such countries' responsibilities under the Framework Convention on Climate Change; and (v) to develop assessments of the vulnerability to impacts of climate change and mitigation and adaptation response strategies.
Federal funding to address global climate change was enacted at $6.37 billion for FY2008, extended by a Continuing Resolution for FY2009 at or below FY2008 levels to March 6, 2009. Members of Congress have expressed interest in how federal funding may reflect and enable an overall strategy, and priorities within it, to address climate change. This report summarizes federal funding and tax incentives identified as climate change-related under the Bush Administration. It identifies the organization of programs, how funding may reflect priorities, and external evaluations or recommendations for the broad programs, to the degree they are available.
Barack Obama has made direction-changing pledges to abate U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and to engage more aggressively internationally on climate change. The change in Executive leadership and the evolving Congressional debate over appropriate policies to address climate change may shift priorities among climate change activities. Calls to expand climate change funding, despite deepening budget pressures, may require that programs do a better job of demonstrating benefits to compete effectively with other budgetary demands. This review of federal funding of climate change activities suggests that there may be opportunities to better align funding with strategic policy goals, and to assure that programs are organized to accomplish those goals more efficiently.
Fourteen federal agencies administer climate change-related activities. The packaging of mostly existing programs into a climate change strategy has resulted in a lack of a unifying mission jointly shared across agencies to address climate change. Funding has largely reflected departmental missions and support for each activity, rather than each activity's expected contribution to an over-arching strategy. The new Obama Administration is expected to provide more action-oriented leadership, but will face the challenge of aligning programs, resources, and tax incentives into a cross-agency, inter-governmental strategy. Associated legislative issues include how legislation to control greenhouse gases may affect funding and tax incentive priorities; the sufficiency and alignment of federal resources to support a strategy to achieve long-term climate change policy goals; demands for additional and predictable resources to support actions by low income countries to mitigate greenhouse gases or adapt to climate change; possible legislative proposals to restructure or improve collaboration among climate change activities; addressing recommendations from evaluations, to the degree they exist, to improve climate change programs; exploring options for financing climate change programs, especially if greenhouse gas emission allowances or fees are enacted by the 111th Congress; and possible requirements for reporting to Congress of funding, budget justifications and programmatic progress that are adequate to support Congressional decision-making and oversight.