CAP Act of 2025

This bill would require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set up a competitive grant program, within one year, to help local governments and other eligible groups create climate adaptation plans. These plans must look at how climate change could affect people, nature, homes, and infrastructure, and lay out actions to reduce those risks, like updating land use or building standards and restoring or protecting key areas. Plans should be aligned with existing local plans, such as hazard mitigation, land use, economic development, capital improvements, comprehensive, and emergency management plans. Priority goes to applications that include environmental justice communities, and there is no local matching requirement.

Applicants must show they include a low-income community, have (or will hire) expertise in climate risk assessment and hazard mitigation, and share basic community data, a timeline, and who will lead the work. They must also describe climate harms they face or risk facing, and how they will involve local voices—such as youth, farmers, scientists, unions, businesses, Indigenous communities, and neighboring jurisdictions—throughout the planning process. The EPA will issue guidance after consulting with these stakeholders.

Key points

• Who is affected: Local governments and other eligible entities, especially those with low-income and environmental justice communities.
• What changes: New EPA grants to fund climate adaptation planning; required community engagement; plans must assess risks to people, ecosystems, housing, and infrastructure and propose concrete actions; plans should align with existing local plans.
• When: The EPA must launch the grant program no later than one year after the bill becomes law.