U.S. Global Change Research Program National Climate Assessment
The U.S. Global Change Research Program is required to produce regular reports on the current understanding of climate change science and impacts. These National Climate Assessments (NCA) are designed to inform strategies and policies on global warming for federal, state, and local governments, as well as the private sector and citizens.
The NCA also aims to put the assessments into a larger context of the understanding of climate science as it relates to social, ecological, and policy systems. The previous assessment, Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States, was released in 2009, and the next one is scheduled to be released in late 2013. The next assessment will continue the analysis of impacts across regions and sectors. A new, important advance in the next assessment is the inclusion of “Sectoral cross-cuts” in recognition that not only one impact is occurring at the same time. Some factors add up to create risk multipliers, while other factors may cancel each other out to some extent, causing less of a change than if the analysis were isolated to one factor.
As our country, and the world, are experiencing the impacts of a warming world—from rising sea levels to extreme heat to floods and drought—it’s more important than ever that cities, towns, businesses and citizens have access to the latest science on climate change. The NCA is one such authoritative resource, and input from scientists with expertise related to climate change is critical to ensure a robust report.
UCS is closely monitoring the NCA process, as well as providing input along the way.
