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The White House last week outlined plans to get the US offshore wind industry off the ground. The White House has awarded Maine, Rhode Island, New York and Massachusetts each a grant of $600,000 to support offshore wind development. It has also established an interagency group in support of offshore wind. As part of that effort, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management plans to offer areas off the coasts of North Carolina and New Jersey. GovTech.com (10/2) 

3M, Cisco, Jackson Family Wines, Kimberly-Clark and other major companies announced new commitments to install solar power as part of a new White House initiative. The Obama administration and local governments also announced a series of new policies to speed the deployment of solar across the nation.

Federal agencies must disclose how their actions will impact climate change, according to White House guidance issued today. Read more: http://www.environmentalleader.com/2016/08/02/white-house-to-federal-agencies-consider-climate-change-impacts-of-your-actions/#ixzz4II292aQe

One year after Superstorm Sandy devastated the East Coast, 20 major U.S. brands including Starbucks, Unilever and Mars, Inc. are calling for the White House to follow through on climate change preparedness efforts outlined in the Climate Action Plan announced by President Obama on June 25.

World leaders have agreed to double the clean energy research funding they pledged in December as part of an international push to reduce carbon emissions, the White House announced on Thursday.  During the first meeting of the 21 countries involved in the Mission Innovation project this week, international members said they would increase the clean energy research and development funding the project is designed to facilitate.  According to the White House, member countries will now spend $30 billion per year by 2021 on clean energy research. 

The White House has announced a new plan to reduce America's methane emissions, which are thought to account for up to 14% of the country's total greenhouse emissions. The Environmental Protection Agency will monitor methane emissions from the fossil-fuel sector, and the Interior Department will develop a plan to capture and sell methane emitted by coal mines on federal land. The effort will depend on "cost-effective, voluntary actions and common-sense standards," said Dan Utech, special assistant to the president for energy and climate change

White House officials told lawmakers this week that while President Barack Obama's climate initiatives will not, in themselves, halt climate change, they nonetheless constitute an important first step towards more sweeping solutions. "The carbon-action plan is a start, and if we do not make a start, we will never get there," says White House science adviser John Holdren.

The Obama administration is aiming to start changing that. Last week, the President - fresh off of announcing a $4 billion renewable energy fund with private investment partners - has unveiled a set of initiatives to bring increased access to solar energy and solar jobs.   The "Increase Solar Access for All Americans" plan involves private sector investment of $520 million and partnerships with Citigroup, GRID Alternatives, SunEdison and half a dozen other companies as well as several states and cities.

The U.S. Senate rejected by a one-vote margin a bill passed by the House to allow construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline, which would carry oil from Canada to Gulf of Mexico refineries. The measure needed 60 votes to go forward but received 59. White House advisers have suggested that President Barack Obama might eventually let the project proceed.

The White House released a new strategy Friday to address methane emissions from landfills, mines, agriculture, and the oil and gas sector.

Beth Stevens, senior VP of environmental affairs at Disney Worldwide Services, is in charge of making strides in the direction of sustainability. How does the iconic brand not only tell an engaging sustainability story but walk the talk? Disney's sustainability goals are serious. It aims to halve its emissions by 2020 from 2012 levels. It signed on to the White House American Business Act on Climate Pledge ahead of COP21 and the Paris Agreement. It even maintains an internal carbon price. Stevens sees all this as a natural expression of the company's culture.

Coca-Cola, Target, DuPont, Honeywell and other major companies along with the White House have announced a series of commitments to curb emissions of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), potent greenhouse gases used in refrigeration and air conditioning.

President Barack Obama will today order government agencies to reduce their carbon emissions by 40% over the next decade. That won't put a big dent in total U.S. emissions, but could give clean-tech startups and energy providers an important boost. "We can drive substantial reductions across the entire federal footprint and ... leverage both innovation and investment in the private sector," said White House senior adviser Brian Deese.

President Obama will issue an Executive Order to cut the Federal Government's GHG emissions by 40% and increase its consumption of electricity from renewable sources by 30% over the next decade, compared to 2008 levels. The plan is projected to save taxpayers up to $18 billion in avoided energy costs.

President Obama's budget includes almost $260 million to fund a water innovation strategy, which the White House says will boost water sustainability and reduce the price and energy costs of new water supply technology.

A committee of the International Civil Aviation Organization has proposed standards for aircraft carbon dioxide emissions. "When fully implemented, the standards are expected to reduce carbon emissions more than 650 million tons between 2020 and 2040, equivalent to removing over 140 million cars from the road for a year," the White House said in a fact sheet

As the UN climate talks in Paris near, 68 additional companies have joined the White House-led American Business Act on Climate Pledge.

businesses that support the Paris climate deal are pressuring President Trump to keep the United States in the accord. They argue that by staying involved in the international talks, the U.S. can discourage policies that could hurt the oil, gas and coal industries. Coal companies, oil giants Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips, renewable energy groups, and major American manufacturers such as General Electric are among those arguing that the United States should stay in the deal. The White House has promised that Trump will decide on the United States' involvement in the Paris deal before next month, a high-stakes decision with major diplomatic and economic implications.

Administration released the Third U.S. National Climate Assessment, the most authoritative and comprehensive source of scientific information to date about climate-change impacts across all U.S. regions and on critical sectors of the economy.