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United Stat eS Office Of PerSO nnel ManageMent 2022 Climate Adaptation Plan Progress Report OPM.GOV OCTOBER 2022 U.S. Office of Personnel Management 2022 Climate Adaptation Plan Progress Report The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) supports Executive Order (EO) 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, which addresses how the Federal government can tackle climate change while producing economic opportunity.
OPM leads and serves the Federal Government in enterprise human resources management by delivering policies and services to achieve a trusted, effective civilian workforce.

OPM shares the President’s concern that climate change poses an existential threat to the well-being of the nation and is committed to supporting the Federal workforce as it powers a government-wide response to this urgent challenge.
OPM is committed to integrating an awareness of climate threads into our daily work across all relevant programs and through our partnerships with stakeholders.

OPM’s Climate Action Plan, which is consistent with the requirements of EO 14008, is our agency-wide plan to integrate climate change adaptation planning and actions into the agency’s programs, policies, and operations.
To address the climate crisis and promote resilience and adaptation, OPM has and will continue to take the following actions: • Integrate climate information to address and promote climate change adaption and climate resilience across our mission, programs, and operations.

• • Develop, implement, and evaluate climate-ready policies and programs which address climate change challenges and further Government-wide climate change adaptation, climate literacy, and climate resilience goals.
Establish and maintain strong partnerships with other agencies in addition to local, regional, state, and other Federal entities to develop policies and programs that promote / enhance climate adaptability and resilience, mitigate climate-related risk to Federal workers and property, and address climate change-related effects.
Since submitting our Climate Action Plan last year, OPM is proud to have helped raise the minimum wage for Federal employees to $15 per hour, which led to a raise for approximately 70,000 Federal employees – including wildland firefighters.
Additionally, with our colleagues at USDA and DOI, OPM has taken bold steps and actions to establish a new wildland fire management job occupational series for Federal firefighters, increased pay for Federal wildland firefighters across the nation, and created new mental health and wellness supports.
Per EO 14008, we have conducted a government-wide survey and are currently exploring additional training offerings which will further expand the Federal workforce’s awareness of and competencies in climate adaptation and resilience efforts.

Please see our 2022 Progress Report for additional details and information and we look forward to sharing our progress in future reports.
Kiran A. Ahuja Director Climate Adaptation Plan 2022 Progress Report Agency U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Climate Adaptation Official E. Reid Hilliard Agency Climate Adaptation Webpage https://www.opm.gov/sustainability Section 1: Updates on Priority Actions 1.
Priority Action Progress Summary Action [Priority Action #] Leveraging workforce flexibilities as a strategic asset to promote climate resilience and adaptation Current Status Not started / In progress / Complete Estimated date of completion Month / Year In progress M-21-25 issued 6/2021.

FAQs completed 6/2021.

Updated Guide to Telework and Remote Work completed 11/21/2021.

An annual review of telework data will be compared by the end of 2022.
Brief Description of Progress 1-2 sentences describing progress to date OPM is actively working with agencies on ways to use telework and remote work as a strategic management tool to effectively deliver on their mission.

For many agencies, this will mean increased use of telework and remote work compared to pre-pandemic levels.

This increased use of telework and remote work furthers the goals of the E.O.

14008 by limiting Federal employees’ commute and reducing commuting-based carbon emissions.
OPM has been issuing regular guidance as needed and will continue.

1 Current Status Not started / In progress / Complete In progress Action [Priority Action #] Increasing support for wildland firefighters and other occupations critical to Federal adaptation and resilience efforts Estimated date of completion Month / Year Increase in minimum wage to $15/ hour completed 1/2022.

Issued new wildland firefighter occupational series 6/2022.
Deferred per CEQ 2022 Attracting top talent to promote adaptation across agencies through the creation of the President’s Sustainability Executives Program In progress 2024 Expanding availability of effective training to expand government’s awareness and competencies related to climate adaptation and resilience.

Brief Description of Progress 1-2 sentences describing progress to date OPM raised the minimum wage for Federal employees to $15 / hour.
This increase led to a raise for approximately 70,000 Federal employees, including wildland firefighters.

Please see the Achieving a $15 Per Hour Minimum Pay Rate for Federal Employees policy memo for additional information.

On June 21, the White House announced that OPM, USDA, and DOI took a series of actions and bold steps to increase pay, create new mental wellness and health supports, and establish a new wildland fire management job series for Federal firefighters.
These measures are a significant step forward that will deliver an immediate, temporary pay raise to Federal wildland firefighters across the nation and sets Federal agencies on a path to continue working with stakeholders towards an updated, competitive, and equitable pay structure, along with a support system that will address the many challenges that have plagued our wildland firefighter workforce for decades.

For more information, please see the WH fact sheet.
Details on the occupational series can be found here, and a detailed overview of the agency actions can be found here.

In partnership with CEQ, OPM seeks to enable agencies to bring innovative senior leaders from the private, non-profit, and academic sectors directly into Federal agencies to support agencies’ efforts to address challenges and help solve complex problems related to the climate crisis.

A model was drafted and provided to Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ).
The CEQ decided to defer full adoption in FY 22 and is conducting a limited (Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) only) test case.

OPM conducted a government-wide study per the E.O.

and provided draft report to CEQ on 4/29/2022 for comments.

2 2.

Priority Action Progress Examples Example 1: OPM is assisting agencies with how to apply remote work and telework policies to transition to a hybrid work environment.
OPM expects that agencies will adopt more telework and remote work than they did pre-pandemic.

This increased adoption will reduce the overall carbon footprint of the Federal workforce and will also improve government’s resilience in the event of climate-connected natural disasters that disrupt regular government operations.

Example 2: OPM issued policy in January 2022 to ensure that Federal wildland firefighters—and almost all Federal employees—now earn a minimum of $15 per hour for their critical work.
As noted above, OPM has taken the necessary step of creating the Wildland Fire Management occupational series established under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

No such series has existed for 50 years.

The new occupational series better identifies Federal firefighters with the work they do.

It defines the duties of wildland firefighters and is responsive to the calls of firefighters and their unions to provide opportunities for career advancement.
It also gives a boost to recruiting, as agencies can now post job opportunity announcements that specifically target people interested in wildland firefighting jobs.

Additionally, the occupational series will help with retention, as our wildland firefighter workforce will benefit from a clear career path with detailed requirements for advancement, providing wildland firefighters with a job title and position description that more accurately reflects their contributions.
Over the coming summer months, the Administration is implementing a new set of temporary pay increases that will put retroactive pay (from October 1, 2021) into wildland firefighters’ pockets, increasing their bi-weekly pay, up to the lesser of $20,000 or 50% of their annual base salary through September 2023.

Federal agencies will begin processing these payments in the coming weeks, with additional payments to occur throughout July and August.
The $600 million in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law serves as a bridge as the Administration works with Congress on longer-term reforms.
Example 3: At the appropriate time, the Office of Personnel Management will work with the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to enable agencies to bring senior leaders from the private, non-profit, and academic sectors directly into Federal agencies to support agencies’ efforts to address challenges and help solve complex problems related to the climate crisis through the President’s Sustainability Executives Program.
OPM and CEQ will work with agencies to identify opportunities to significantly improve adaptation, resilience, or sustainability programs.

In the short term, OPM will support the pilot CEQ is currently running at EPA.

Example 4: As directed by E.O.


14008, the Office of Personnel Management’s Center for Leadership Development (CLD) completed a detailed review of existing training curriculum available to Federal employees to identify opportunities to expand the Federal workforce’s competencies and awareness of sustainability and resilience issues.
CLD focused on reviewing its leadership, management, and professional development curricula for the initiative and conducted a deep dive into trainings available from other agencies to determine opportunities for further expansion of this training across government.

OPM’s CLD team looks forward to continued partnership with CEQ to refine these recommendations and begin implementation on a timeline consistent with available resources.

Section 2: Updates on Other Initial Plan Topics 1.


Climate Risk Reduction While OPM does not own or construct new buildings or perform major modernizations, OPM will continue to reduce fossil fuel use in the facilities the agency operates and manages to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
One of the important steps in reasserting OPM’s commitment to addressing the existential crisis of climate change is increasing its consumption of renewable electricity at its headquarters building to 50 percent effective November 2021.

OPM participates in GSA’s group renewable power procurement.
3 These initiatives at OPM align with the President’s pledge to tackle the climate crisis and invest in innovation to spur transformational technologies that can help reduce emissions, while also creating new economic opportunities to build the industries of the future.

2.

Climate Vulnerability Assessments Since the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) conducted its last vulnerability assessment in 2014, OPM’s climate adaptation team will conduct a new assessment as part of the implementation of E.O.
14008.

This assessment will focus on how OPM can better prepare for weather-related crises affecting the government’s operating status and promote the health and safety of employees.

OPM will review these procedures during FY 2022.

3.
3.

Climate Literacy The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) will identify climate adaptation learning content from across the government and academic/non-profit organizations to expand the availability of effective training to further expand government’s awareness and competencies related to climate adaptation and resilience.

OPM is at the beginning stages of an effort to identify best in class climate adaptation training content to be made available through OPM’s Center on Leadership Development (CLD).
4.

Tribal Engagement The Office of Personnel Management supported the Department of Interior (DOI) in converting 153 tribal positions into permanent jobs that can support wildfire response.

OPM works on tribal outreach in other areas.

5.

Environmental Justice OPM will use the Climate Action Plan to identify ways our policy can better support Federal workers and communities that may be disproportionately impacted by climate-change disruptions.
We will also evaluate policies to promote equitable access to flexibilities and supports.

OPM continues its environmentally sound disposition of all agency excess and surplus electronics, consistent with Federal policies on recycling and disposing of electronic assets, measure, and report compliance.

6.

Partnerships The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) will continue to work closely with agencies across government via the Chief Human Capital Officers Council and the President’s Management Council.
OPM will work with the Chief Learning Officers Council as well as agencies with existing expertise in training around climate adaptation resilience (e.g., DOE, EPA, and FEMA).

In increasing its support for wildland firefighters and other occupations critical to Federal adaptation and resilience efforts, OPM will work closely with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the United States Department of Interior (DOI), and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Section 3: New Topics from E.O.


14057 1.

Policy Review Based on the vulnerability identified in 2014, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) will examine its policies and procedures to identify ways OPM can, within existing laws, enhance response to extreme weather events.

4 OPM’s Office of Procurement Operations (OPO) informs vendors to reduce their impacts on emissions on awarded contracts to conform to E.O.

14008 and E.O.

14057 and is reviewing and updating OPM acquisition policies accordingly.
2.

Climate Scenario Analysis The Office of Personnel Management will measure government-wide statistics on telework and remote work with the priority adaptation action for leveraging workforce flexibilities as a strategic asset to promote climate resilience and adaptation.

The Office of Personnel Management will examine its policies and procedures to identify ways OPM can enhance responses to extreme weather events.
The Office of Personnel Management can align existing resources for its decision-making to the initiative on leveraging workforce flexibilities as a strategic asset to promote climate resilience and adaptation.

• Office of Personnel Management, Facilities, Security, and Emergency Management (FSEM) • FSEM/CSO has overall responsibility for implementing the agency’s sustainability program to meet the goals of Executive Order 14008 and EO 14057.
Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) • Office of Personnel Management, Employee Services (ES), Talent Acquisition • ES will lead the priority adaptation action for leveraging workforce flexibilities as a strategic asset to promote climate resilience and adaptation.

• ES will also lead the priority adaptation action for increasing support for Wildland Firefighters and other occupations critical to Federal adaptation and resilience efforts.
• Office of Personnel Management, Human Resources Solutions (HRS), Center for Leadership Development (CLD) • HRS/CLD will lead the priority adaptation action for expanding availability of effective training to expand government’s awareness and competencies related to climate adaptation and resilience.
• Office of Personnel Management, HRS, Center for Leadership Development (CLD) and Employee Services (ES), Talent Acquisition • HRS/CLD and ES will serve as co-leads for the priority adaptation action and attracting top talent to promote adaptation across agencies through the creation of the President’s Sustainability Executives Program.
Employee Services (ES) Talent Acquisition Center for Leadership Development (CLD) Center for Leadership Development & Employee Services 5 U.S. Office of Personnel Management Facilities, Security, and Emergency Management 1900 E Street, NW, Washington, DC 20415 OPM.GOV FSEM-03485-10/2022