U.S. Interior Department Acting Deputy Secretary Highlights Progress Towards Clean Energy Future at COP29

At the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Baku, U.S. Interior Department Acting Deputy Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis highlighted the progress made under the Biden administration in tackling climate change and economic inequity using nature-based solutions.

Deputy Secretary Daniel-Davis spoke about the partnerships with international and U.S. stakeholders to fast-track the availability and enactment of local led, nature-based solutions, which utilize natural processes as a durable and robust method to lower natural disaster risks to communities and support climate adaptation.

The U.S. Interior Department is launching an improved digital Nature Based Solution Roadmap in collaboration with Duke University. Nature-Based Solutions Roadmap is a comprehensive resource to support department staff, partners, and any other stakeholders in implementing nature-based solutions. Nature-based solutions are activities that integrate natural features and processes to conserve, protect, restore, sustainably utilize, and manage natural or altered ecosystems to deal with socio-environmental difficulties while providing a number of tangible benefits. Nature-based solutions can assist in dealing with challenges such as wildfire, risk, stormwater management and coastal erosion.

Moreover, Deputy Secretary Daniel-Davis emphasized the department’s commitment in strengthening relationships with tribal communities through the Tribal Electrification Program. The program was launched with a $150 million investment from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. The initiative provides technical and financial support to connect households in tribal communities to distribution and transmission that is powered by clean energy. The program provides power to unelectrified households through zero-emissions energy systems, change electrified homes to zero-emissions energy systems, and support accompanying household repairs and retrofitting essential to install the zero-emissions energy systems. In addition, the program supports clean energy workforce development prospects in Indian Country and is a vital step towards the target of electrifying all U.S. households with clean energy sources.