Biden set to announce $600 million in climate projects during a visit to Palo Alto

President Joe Biden is set to announce a $600 million investment in projects aimed at combatting climate change during a visit to Palo Alto on Monday.

State, local, and environmental justice leaders will join the president in touring the Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Interpretive Center and Preserve, a coastal wetland in Palo Alto that plays a key role in protecting shoreline communities. Biden is expected to highlight the wetland to emphasize the urgency of climate action in coastal communities across the nation.

During the visit, Biden is also expected to preview his administration’s latest actions to help communities adapt to a changing climate and increasingly extreme weather.

“The funding will support innovative coastal resilience and adaptation solutions, such as building natural infrastructure, planning and preparing for community-led relocation, and protecting public access to coastal natural resources, that protect communities and ecosystems from sea level rise, tidal flooding hurricanes, storm surge, among other severe climate impacts,” the administration said in a statement.

In the past month, millions of Americans have faced the effects of wildfire smoke and record-breaking heat waves, likely intensified by climate change. In the Bay Area, coastal communities face serious challenges from climate change-related issues like sea level rise, tidal flooding, and storm surges.

Biden is expected to discuss his administration’s efforts to tackle those problems, such as creating clean energy jobs, building climate resilience, and making investments to better protect the country’s power grid from extreme weather events.

That agenda is part of what Biden’s team refers to as the “most ambitious climate agenda in American history.”