FACT SHEET: WH Releases Fifth National Climate Assessment, Announces $6B+ to Strengthen Climate Resilience [press release]
To equip Americans with the best available science and understanding of climate change impacts in the United States, President Biden is today announcing the release of the Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5). NCA5, which assesses changes in the climate, its national and regional impacts, and options for reducing present and future risk, indicates that not only is every region of the country already experiencing the impacts of climate change, but ambitious climate action is underway in every region as well.
Federal, state, local, and Tribal mitigation and adaptation actions have significantly increased, while zero-carbon and low-carbon energy options are rapidly becoming more affordable. The report also shows that climate change related extreme weather events still pose a rapidly intensifying threat – one that costs the U.S. at least $150 billion each year, and that disproportionately affects underserved and overburdened communities.
In coordination with the release of NCA5, President Biden is today announcing more than $6 billion in investments to make communities across the country more resilient to the impacts of climate change, including by strengthening America’s aging electric grid infrastructure, reducing flood risk to communities, supporting conservation efforts, and advancing environmental justice. The Administration is also releasing new resources to boost climate resilience efforts. . . .
The National Climate Assessment (NCA) is the most comprehensive federal effort to assess the state of climate science and communicate the impacts of climate change on people, communities, and ecosystems across the United States. For the first time ever, NCA5 includes a chapter on Economics, which highlights economic impacts and opportunities associated with climate action. NCA5 also includes a new chapter on Social Systems and Justice, which provides insights into how people understand, experience, and respond in different ways to climate change. This chapter, as well as NCA5’s 10 region-specific chapters, describes how certain communities experience disproportionate impacts from climate change.
Complementing the robust scientific findings of NCA5, the new web-based NCA Atlas allows Americans to explore climate projections in their own state or county to inform resilience, adaptation, and mitigation efforts. And, to improve inclusivity and accessibility, a forthcoming Spanish-language version of the entire NCA5 will be available for the first time early next year. . . .
Led by the U.S. Global Change Research Program and its 14 member agencies, NCA5 was thoughtfully developed over four years by approximately 500 authors and 250 contributors from every state, as well as Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. NCA5 includes input from extensive public engagement and an external peer review conducted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
Key highlights include:
THE UNITED STATES IS TAKING ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE -- Greenhouse gas emissions from the United States continue to fall even as population and GDP have grown. Across the country, climate actions are underway in every U.S. region. City- and state-level mitigation and adaptation actions have significantly increased. Zero-carbon and low- carbon energy options are rapidly becoming more affordable, transforming the energy system through increased electrification, energy efficiency, and use of clean energy technologies.
For example, wind energy costs dropped 70% and solar energy costs dropped 90% just over the last decade. In 2020, 80% of new energy-generation capacity came from clean energy. This energy transition will create new economic opportunities, as increased demand for clean energy and low-carbon technologies typically leads to long-term expansion in most states’ energy and decarbonization workforces. . . .
AMERICANS ARE EXPERIENCING INCREASING RISKS FROM EXTREME EVENTS -- Total global greenhouse gas emissions from human activities continue to increase, resulting in rapid warming and other impacts. People across the United States are experiencing warmer temperatures and longer heatwaves. Many other extremes, including heavy precipitation, droughts, floods, wildfires, and hurricanes, are increasing in frequency and/or severity. Extreme events cost the United States close to $150 billion each year—a conservative estimate that does not account for loss of life, health care-related costs, or damages to ecosystem services.
This year set a record for the number of climate disasters that cost the United States over $1 billion. The United States now experiences a billion-dollar disaster approximately every three weeks on average, compared to once every four months during the 1980s. . . .
CLIMATE CHANGE EXACERBATES SOCIAL INEQUITIES -- Underserved and overburdened communities face disproportionate risks and impacts from climate change, which exacerbates existing social and economic inequities. Some overburdened communities are at higher risk of climate impacts due to ongoing systemic discrimination, exclusion, and under- or disinvestment. These social inequities contribute to persistent disparities in the availability of resources needed to prepare for, respond to, and recover from climate impacts. . . .
AVAILABLE MITIGATION STRATEGIES CAN DELIVER EMISSIONS REDUCTIONS, BUT THE UNITED STATES MUST GO FURTHER AND FASTER TO REACH NET ZERO -- The risk of exceeding a particular global warming level depends on current and future emissions. This means that projections are conditional: when or if the world reaches a particular level of warming is largely dependent on the choices we make today and in the future. Limiting global warming to 1.5°C (2.7°F) above preindustrial levels requires a path to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Progress towards net zero is underway in the United States, and is expected to be significantly aided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, the largest investments in climate and energy in American history. But further actions are needed to increase the pace, scale, and scope of the energy transition to ensure we reach net-zero emissions by midcentury.
Net-zero emissions pathways require widespread implementation of currently available and cost-effective options for reducing emissions, including the addition of new wind and solar capacity. Reaching net zero will also require rapid expansion of technologies and methods to remove carbon from the atmosphere to balance remaining emissions, as well as the exploration of additional mitigation and transformative adaptation options.
CLIMATE ACTION IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO CREATE A MORE RESILIENT AND JUST NATION -- In addition to reducing risks to current and future generations, transformative climate action can deliver immediate benefits, with the potential to improve well-being, strengthen resilience, benefit the economy, and, in part, redress legacies of racism and injustice. Effective mitigation and adaptation efforts, rooted in equity, are needed to address disparities in climate risks, dismantle historic barriers, and create opportunities for all people to thrive.
A just transition can ensure equitable access to jobs; affordable, low-carbon energy; environmental benefits such as reduced air pollution; and improved quality of life for all. Effective and just transitions require reducing impacts to overburdened communities, increasing resources to underserved communities, and integrating diverse worldviews, cultures, experiences, and capacities into mitigation and adaptation actions.
NCA5:
https://nca2023.globalchange.gov/
NCA5 chapter webinars:
https://www.globalchange.gov/events?topic%5B135%5D=135
NCA5 Economic chapter:
https://nca2023.globalchange.gov/chapter/19
Economics chapter authors:
-- Federal Coordinating Lead Author: Jeremy Martinich, US Environmental Protection Agency
-- Chapter Lead Authors:
Solomon Hsiang, University of California, Berkeley (through April 2023)
Simon Greenhill, University of California, Berkeley (from April 2023)
-- Agency Chapter Lead Authors:
Monica Grasso, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Rudy M. Schuster, US Geological Survey
-- Chapter Authors:
Lint Barrage, ETH Zurich
Delavane B. Diaz, Electric Power Research Institute
Harrison Hong, Columbia University
Carolyn Kousky, Environmental Defense Fund
Toan Phan, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond
Marcus C. Sarofim, US Environmental Protection Agency
Wolfram Schlenker, Columbia University
Benjamin Simon, George Washington University
Stacy E. Sneeringer, US Department of Treasury
Economics chapter webinar March 4, 2024
https://www.globalchange.gov/events/nca5-webinar-economics
Supply chain chapter webinar March 4, 2024
https://www.globalchange.gov/events/nca5-webinar-supply-chains
NCA5 Atlas:
https://atlas.globalchange.gov/ The NCA Interactive Atlas provides digital access to downscaled climate projections and sea level rise maps used in the Fifth U.S. National Climate Assessment (NCA5). The Atlas is an extension of NCA5, offering interactive maps that show projections of future conditions in the United States.
WH Fact Sheet:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/11/14/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-releases-fifth-national-climate-assessment-and-announces-more-than-6-billion-to-strengthen-climate-resilience-across-the-country/
Departmental Fact Sheets:
DOE
https://www.energy.gov/articles/doe-and-partner-agencies-find-americans-face-increased-risk-extreme-weather-and-worsening
NOAA
https://www.noaa.gov/news-release/climate-change-impacts-are-increasing-for-americans
DOT
https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/landmark-fifth-national-climate-assessment-highlights-key-climate-change-risks-and
HHS
https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/11/14/hhs-factsheet-national-climate-assessment-5-unveiled.html
USDA
https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2023/11/14/usda-contributes-fifth-national-climate-assessment-highlighting
Media:
NYT, The Toll of Climate Disasters Is Rising. But a U.S. Report Has Good News, Too.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/14/climate/biden-national-climate-assessment.html
Bloomberg, Nowhere Is Safe From Worsening Climate Change, New US Report Warns
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-11-14/nowhere-is-safe-from-worsening-climate-change-new-us-report-warns
Bloomberg, Five Takeaways From a Sweeping Report on Climate Change in the US
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-14/5-key-takeaways-from-major-us-report-on-climate-change
CNN, No place in the US is safe from the climate crisis, but a new report shows where it’s most severe
https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/14/us/national-climate-assessment-extreme-weather-costs/index.html
The Guardian, ‘The science is irrefutable’: US warming faster than global average, says report
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/14/us-national-climate-assessment-global-warming-report
Washington Post, Climate impacts in the U.S. are ‘far-reaching and worsening,’ federal report finds
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/11/14/national-climate-assessment-impacts-warming/
Vox, Biden gives center stage to the climate report Trump tried to bury
https://www.vox.com/climate/23959402/national-climate-assessment-nca-report-biden-trump