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Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Law, regulation and treaties · United States · 2015–2024

Florida HB 1645 (2024): "climate change" removed from state energy policy

Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 1 none on record · 1 insufficient · 1 not measured · 1 disputed See the gaps

Florida HB 1645 was signed on 15 May 2024 and took effect on 1 July 2024. It removed "climate change" from state energy policy, barred offshore wind and turbines within one mile of the coast, repealed the climate-friendly products list and eased rules on gas pipelines.

15 May 2024Date HB 1645 was signed
Effective 1 July 2024.

Status As of October 2026: HB 1645 has been in effect since 1 July 2024; no court ruling or repeal is in the sources reviewed.

What?
HB 1645 removed "climate change" from Florida's state energy policy, banned offshore wind and turbines within one mile of the coast, repealed the climate-friendly products list and eased rules on gas pipelines. Florida Phoenix
Where?
Florida, United States. Florida Phoenix
When?
Signed 15 May 2024; effective 1 July 2024. Florida Phoenix
Who?
Gained
None on record
Lost
None on record
Harmed
None on record
Why?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
State law: HB 1645 amended state energy policy. Florida Phoenix
5 of 6 questions answered from the record · open: who

What happened

The record, in order.

Florida HB 1645 was signed on 15 May 2024 and took effect on 1 July 2024, according to press reports. It removes "climate change" from state energy policy, bans offshore wind and turbines within one mile of the coast, repeals the climate-friendly products list and eases rules on gas pipelines. The Florida Phoenix headline reported that Governor DeSantis signed the bill and that it erased the term "climate change" from state law.

Earlier, in March 2015, former staff of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) told the FCIR, as covered by WUFT, that staff had been barred from using the terms "climate change" and "global warming". A former DEP attorney said there was no written ban but a verbal one. Governor Rick Scott and DEP denied any such policy. On 9 March 2015, according to PEER, a DEP employee was reprimanded over climate wording in meeting notes and sent home.

  1. 2015FCIR reports, from former staff, a verbal ban on "climate change" at DEP (8 March); Governor Scott and DEP deny any policy; a DEP employee reprimanded over climate wording in meeting notes (9 March)
  2. 2024HB 1645 signed (15 May); effective 1 July

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

Where accounts differ

Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.

Whether Florida DEP barred staff from using "climate change" and "global warming" (2015)
Press and investigations
FCIR, as covered by WUFT

Reported, from former staff accounts, that staff were barred from the terms; a former DEP attorney said there was no written ban but a verbal one.

WUFT
Government and regulators
Governor Rick Scott and Florida DEP

Denied any such policy.

WUFT
Communities and civil society
PEER

Reported that a DEP employee was reprimanded on 9 March 2015 over climate wording in meeting notes and sent home.

PEER

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

    Recorded

    • HB 1645, signed 15 May 2024 and effective 1 July 2024: removes "climate change" from state energy policy; bans offshore wind and turbines within one mile of the coast; repeals the climate-friendly products list; eases rules on gas pipelines.
      Florida Phoenix
    • A DEP employee was reprimanded on 9 March 2015 over climate wording in meeting notes and sent home (PEER); an inspector-general complaint was filed.
      PEER

    Who gained

    Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

    Reached nature or the ground

    Not published
    No figure published.

    Gained elsewhere

    Not totalled
    Currency: · Window: . All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

    Responses on record

    • Florida Department of Environmental Protection (March 2015): Denied any policy barring the terms "climate change" and "global warming", with Governor Scott, according to coverage of the FCIR report. · WUFT

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.

    Nature

    • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

    Accounts

    • Disputed Whether Florida DEP barred staff from using "climate change" and "global warming" (2015)

    Record

    • None on record Not found: the outcome of the inspector-general complaint over the 2015 reprimand at DEP.
    • Insufficient Unconfirmed: that the 2015 ban existed. It rests on accounts from former DEP staff; Governor Scott and DEP denied any policy.

    Did the harm stop?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Who paid?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Sources

    Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations✓ Communities and civil society— Researchers

    Press and investigations

    Communities and civil society

    Connected cases

    Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
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