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U.S. Global Change Research Program To Release
Fifth National Climate Assessment Report
The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) announced last week that it has finalized the fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5) report as mandated by the Global Change Research Act of 1990 and will be releasing it to the public.
Every four or more years the USGCRP -- a collective composed of more than 500 experts from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Agriculture (USDA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and other federal agencies -- submits a comprehensive climate assessment report to Congress and the President to support informed environmental policymaking. The NCA5 covers an array of topics in 32 chapters, ranging from developments in the physical sciences, to regional climate issues, to international responses to enacted adaptation and mitigation strategies.
The USGCRP notes that “Advances since the publication of the Fourth National Climate Assessment (2017–2018) have led to new understanding of the changing climate system, the resulting impacts on society, and approaches to reduce risks.” Improved climate modeling, the incorporation of socioeconomic analyses, and renewed attention paid to indigenous knowledge have allowed the USGCRP to make robust recommendations to reduce emissions and adapt to the worst impacts of climate change.
While the full NCA5 report has not yet been made available online, the USGCRP has released a “report in brief” that summarizes new developments and key findings. The Northeast-Midwest Institute will report on the Fifth National Climate Assessment in its entirety as soon as the report becomes available.
A link to the Fifth Climate Assessment Report in Brief can be found here.
Reported by NEMWI Intern Ethan Groboski, Brown University
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