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New Report Focuses On Using Science To Accelerate Climate Change Action

Above Photo: From Terry Pellmar/Flickr

The report described below is from The Science for Climate Action Network (SCAN). This is a new group created by members of a former federal advisory committee on climate change that was dismantled by the Trump administration two years ago. The members decided to continue their work after Trump ended the advisory committee on climate change. Twelve of the 15 original members along with several additional experts formed the Independent Advisory Committee on Applied Climate Assessment with the support of Columbia University’s Earth Institute, New York State and the American Meteorological Society.

The group published their report Thursday, April 4 in the journal Weather, Climate and Society. Their report calls for better adaptation to floods, wildfires, droughts and other threats that loom over communities in the United States from the climate crisis. The report found that the US economy will lose $500 billion annually from crop damage, lost labor, and extreme weather. Further, they predict that the amount of the US west consumed annually by wildfires will increase as much as sixfold by 2050.

They found that the U.S. lacks a comprehensive national climate information system and, as a result, the panel decided to launch a network to provide non-federal entities guidance on climate science. They want communities to use the network to determine what climate datasets they should use for specific decisions. SCAN recommends the creation of a “civil-society-based climate assessment consortium” to combine private and public interests and provide more localized help for communities menaced by floods, wildfires or other climate risks.

More information:

  • A summary of the report can be found in the Bulletin of the AMS: here
  • The full report can be found in the Weather, Climate, and Society Journal of the AMS: here
  • And an article focusing on the launch of SCAN can be found in EOS – a publication of the American Geophysical Union: here.

SCAN says that in preparing their report, they received ideas and inputs from state, local, and tribal officials, researchers in all areas of climate science, experts in non-governmental and community-based organizations, professionals in engineering, architecture, public health, adaptation, and other areas. KZ

Launch of Science for Climate Action Network: Building off the US National Climate Assessment to Help Communities Establish Climate Action Pathways 

On April 4th, 2019, the Independent Advisory Committee for Applied Climate Assessment (IAC) released its recommendations. These recommendations represent a year-long process from the IAC, funded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, the American Meteorological Society (AMS) and the Earth Institute at Columbia University. See below for access to the report and more about the new Science for Climate Action (SCAN).

  • A press release covering the report release and the Science for Climate Action (SCAN) launch is available here.

  • A summary of the report can be found in the Bulletin of the AMS: here 

  • The full report can be found in the Weather, Climate, and Society Journal of the AMS: here

  • And an article focusing on the launch of SCAN can be found in EOS – a publication of the American Geophysical Union: here.

The report is based on ideas and inputs from state, local, and tribal officials, researchers in all areas of climate science, experts in non-governmental and community-based organizations, professionals in engineering, architecture, public health, adaptation, and other areas. We thank these individuals and organizations, and particularly the organizations below, and many more who support this work, as well as the committee who volunteered their time and expertise to develop these recommendations and the conveners who are helping to initiate SCAN.

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