Blog

Jul 31, 2023

Building a Clean, Climate

On Aug. 16, 2022, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law,

On Aug. 16, 2022, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, marking a historic commitment to build a new clean energy economy and tackle the climate crisis.

The historic law authorizes the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Recovery and Emergency Act to provide financial assistance for costs associated with low-carbon building or construction materials and incentives that encourage low-carbon and net-zero energy projects. These funds and incentives support FEMA's 2022-2026 Strategic Plan goal of leading "whole of community in climate resilience" and encourage state, tribal, territories, and local partners to make strategic investments to build climate-resilient communities.

These clean, climate-resilient considerations are applicable to materials and projects through FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC), and Public Assistance (PA) Programs.

Read more about the Implementation of Low-Carbon Materials.

The Inflation Reduction Act authorizes FEMA to fund costs associated with low-carbon materials, even when the costs are higher than those for conventional materials, to help cut carbon pollution, and build back cleaner and more resilient. These efforts support the Federal Buy Clean Initiative to spur the development of lower carbon construction materials.

Under the Act, FEMA defines eligible low-carbon materials as concrete, asphalt, glass and steel that have a Global Warming Potential (GWP) lower than the estimated industry averages of similar products in North America. This information will be reported through an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD).

States, tribes, territories and local communities will have more access to cleaner materials through eligible FEMA programs as communities rebuild or take initiatives to become more resilient. This ensures communities can help advance the clean energy economy as the they confront the impacts of the climate crisis.

The following programs are eligible to fund low-carbon materials through the Inflation Reduction Act:

Learn about other ways FEMA is addressing climate change.

For more information on the Inflation Reduction Act, email [email protected].