Navy secretary rescinds Biden-era climate action plan

Navy Secretary John Phelan announced Tuesday he is rescinding the Navy's Climate Action 2030 program, instituted during the Biden administration.

In a video posted to X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, Phelan stated he is “focusing on the warfighters first,” adding that focus should be placed on lethality.

The Navy’s climate action plan -- released in 2022 -- focused on climate change’s effects on naval operations, like shoreline erosion that could damage structures and installations.

Naval installations on both the East and West Coasts are threatened by sea level rise, increased storms bolstered by climate change, higher temperatures and wildfires, Meredith Berger, the former assistant secretary for energy, installations and environment, said at the time.

Climate Action 2030 outlines five goals for the service, including “climate-informed decision making,” resilient infrastructure and supply chain resilience. The Navy aimed to achieve a 65% reduction in scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions and 100% carbon pollution-free electricity by 2030, and 100% zero-emission vehicles by 2035.

Those goals are now seemingly erased with Phelan’s announcement.

Last November, a senior Pentagon official hoped there would be support within the Trump administration for protecting against the impact climate change is expected to have on Defense Department operations and infrastructure worldwide.

“While the politics that are swirling around all of these issues complicate the conversation, when you get down to the deckplate, it's better to leverage these capabilities than not,” former Assistant Defense Secretary for Energy, Installations and Environment Brendan Owens told reporters at the time. “And I think at the end of the day, that's why I continue to have hope for a lot of these things that are potentially on the chopping block in the next administration.”

Former Defense Secretary Chris Miller included several defense policy goals in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 agenda -- thought at the time to be a possible policy blueprint for the Trump Administration. Addressing climate change was listed among “progressive social policies” undermining the mission of the military, Miller wrote.