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Government Agency

American Climate Corps

Type:

Government Initiative
Formation:

2023
Status:

Defunct (shut down in 2025)
Director:

Michael D. Smith

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The American Climate Corps was a Biden administration effort to federally fund staffers for left-of-center environmental organizations and increase labor union membership in roles related to climate change and “environmental justice” in alignment with the proposed Green New Deal. 1 2

The Climate Corps was intended to be based on the AmeriCorps model of government-funded public service jobs for young Americans, but failed to receive Congressional approval or appropriations. 3 A dramatically scaled-back version ended up accomplishing few of the initiative’s stated goals. 4 The American Climate Corps was disbanded by President Donald Trump in 2025. 5

Background

The American Climate Corps grew out of the environmentalist Green New Deal movement. According to U.S. Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA), who sponsored the original Green New Deal resolution in the U.S. Senate in 2019, “the Green New Deal movement called for and won a victory when the Biden administration announced the historic American Climate Corps, in the model of the Civilian Climate Corps called for by Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, Senator Markey, and many other Green New Deal advocates.” 6 2

Supporters

In January 2023, the left-of-center civil society organization Service Year created a “Partnership for the Civilian Climate Corps” of environmental advocacy organizations, labor unions, and other left-of-center groups to advocate the Corps’ creation. 7

The Partnership’s members included American Clean Power, American Conservation Experience, American Society of Adaptation Professionals, America’s Service Commissions, CivicWell, Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Law and Social Policy, Climate Mayors, Conservation Lands Foundation, Conservation Legacy, Data for Progress, Evergreen Action, Farallon Strategies, Independent Sector, Interstate Renewable Energy Council, JFF, KABOOM!, Mt. Adams Institute, North America’s Building Trades Unions, National Recreation and Park Association, National Wildlife Federation, National Youth Employment Coalition, Next100, SBP, Inc., Service Year Alliance, Sierra Club, States for Service Coalition, Student Conservation Association, Sunrise Movement, The Corps Network, the Nature Conservancy, the Nonprofit Council, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, and Youth Jobs Connect. 8

The Climate Corps was broadly supported by labor unions for its efforts to direct federal funding to “good-paying union jobs” and union-operated job training programs. 9 10 1

Biden Administration

The process of creating the American Climate Corps began with then-President Joe Biden’s January 27, 2021 executive order on “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad,” which directed the Department of the Interior, Department of Agriculture, and “other relevant agencies” to develop a plan for its creation. 11

The Biden administration formally proposed the Climate Corps’ creation in the Build Back Better Act legislative proposal, requesting $15.2 billion in appropriations for a Climate Corps comprised of “over 300,000 members that look like America.” 9

Congress rejected Biden’s Build Back Better proposals, which passed the House of Representatives but failed to receive consideration by the Senate. 12 4 “The Build Back Better Framework | The White House.” National Archives and Records Administration. Accessed May 18, 2025. https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/build-back-better/.[/note] While the Biden administration revived many Build Back Better Act proposals in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the Climate Corps was not among them. 4

In September 2023, under pressure from left-of-center environmentalist groups, President Biden announced the creation of a scaled-back version of the American Climate Corps via executive order, with a reduced target of just 20,000 jobs using existing AmeriCorps appropriations. 13 14 Its stated purpose was to offer paid training in “conserving our lands and waters, bolstering community resilience, advancing environmental justice, deploying clean energy, implementing energy efficient technologies, and tackling climate change.” 11

Environmentalists criticized the Biden administration for scaling back the Climate Corps from its initial scope. 15 In response, Biden promised in his 2024 State of the Union address to triple the number of American Climate Corps participants to 60,000 “in this decade.” 16

In September 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it would be forming an Environmental Justice Climate Corps within the American Climate Corps initiative, where participants would receive a federally funded “living allowance” while carrying out left-of-center environmental and social activism. The program’s launch was scheduled for early 2025, but it was cancelled after the election of President Donald Trump and his January 2025 executive order dissolving the Climate Corps. 17 5

According to Los Angeles Times reporter Noah Haggerty, “What started as a multibillion-dollar vision to supercharge climate action across America, ended up primarily as a job board on a federal site, advertising climate service jobs around the country.” 4

Leadership

AmeriCorps CEO Michael D. Smith oversaw the Climate Corps. Smith was named to Time’s list of the 100 most influential climate leaders in business for 2024. 18 19

References

  1. Daly, Matthew. “Biden, Dems Push Civilian Climate Corps in Echo of New Deal.” Associated Press, September 9, 2021. https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-health-climate-business-bills-cb6191bf6155c8a54e556c1ecd8615f9.
  2. Markey, Edward. “Five Years in a Green New Deal World.” Senate.gov – Senator Edward Markey, February 6, 2024. https://www.markey.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/five_years_in_a_green_new_deal_world_-_020624pdf.pdf.
  3. Daly, Matthew. “Biden, Dems Push Civilian Climate Corps in Echo of New Deal.” AP News, September 9, 2021. https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-health-climate-business-bills-cb6191bf6155c8a54e556c1ecd8615f9.
  4. Haggerty, Noah. “Biden Struggled to Bring the American Climate Corps to Life. Then Trump Killed It.” Los Angeles Times, February 5, 2025. https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-02-05/trump-killed-the-american-climate-corps.
  5. Trump, Donald J. “Unleashing American Energy.” The White House, January 20, 2025. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/unleashing-american-energy/.
  6. “S.Res.59 – A Resolution Recognizing the Duty of the Federal Government to Create a Green New Deal.” Library of Congress, February 7, 2019. https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-resolution/59/all-info.
  7. “Partnership for the CCC Statement on the Launch of the American Climate Corps.” Service Year Alliance, September 2023. https://www.serviceyearalliance.org/pccc_statement_american_climate_corps.
  8. “Partnership for the Civilian Climate Corps.” Service Year Alliance. December 6, 2023. Accessed May 19, 2025 via Wayback Machine. https://web.archive.org/web/20231206120957/https://www.serviceyearalliance.org/pccc.
  9. “The Build Back Better Framework | The White House.” National Archives and Records Administration. Accessed May 18, 2025. https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/build-back-better/.
  10. “NABTU Statement Applauding American Climate Corps Partnership.” NABTU, April 22, 2024. https://nabtu.org/press_releases/nabtu-american-climate-corps-partnership-statement/.
  11. Biden, Joseph. “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad.” Federal Register, January 27, 2021. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/02/01/2021-02177/tackling-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad.
  12. “Build Back Better Act.” Ballotpedia. Accessed May 19, 2025. https://ballotpedia.org/Build_Back_Better_Act.
  13. Daly, Matthew. “Biden Uses Executive Power to Create a New Deal-Style American Climate Corps.” Associated Press, October 16, 2023. https://apnews.com/article/biden-climate-corps-conservation-green-new-deal-d1ea0e218c8754b90f8446ad57aed689.
  14. “Biden Launches Us ‘climate Corps’ amid Pressure from Environment Advocates.” Al Jazeera, September 20, 2023. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/20/biden-launches-us-climate-corps-amid-pressure-from-environment-advocates.
  15. Googins, Nick Fuller. “Lacking FDR-Style Scale and Ambition, Biden’s Climate Corps Simply Not Enough.” Common Dreams, October 9, 2023. https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/biden-american-climate-corps.
  16. Emma Dumain, Kelsey Brugger. “Dems Shrug after Biden Fails to Mention Landmark Climate Law.” E&E News by POLITICO, March 11, 2024. https://www.eenews.net/articles/dems-shrug-after-biden-fails-to-mention-landmark-climate-law/.
  17. Budryk, Zack. “EPA Announces Environmental Justice Program within Climate Corps.” The Hill, September 25, 2024. https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/4898659-epa-americorps-environmental-justice-climate-corps/.
  18. Roosevelt , Ted. “Good Citizen Podcast.” Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, April 19, 2024. https://www.trlibrary.com/podcast/good-citizen/michael-d-smith.
  19.  Booth, Harry. “Michael D. Smith: Time100 Climate 2024.” Time, November 12, 2024. https://time.com/7172469/michael-d-smith/.
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