Highlights

Since 1989, the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) has submitted annual reports to Congress called Our Changing Planet. The reports describe the status of USGCRP research activities, provide progress updates, and document recent accomplishments.

In particular, Our Changing Planet highlights progress and accomplishments in interagency activities. These highlights represent the broad spectrum of USGCRP activities that extend from Earth system observations, modeling, and fundamental research through synthesis and assessment, decision support, education, and public engagement.

Climate scenarios provide a consistent set of possible future conditions to inform analyses of the risks posed by climate change.

The Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) assesses risks to the United States posed by climate and global change. Scenarios that represent a range of plausible future changes in key risk drivers, such as greenhouse gas emissions levels, weather and climate extremes, sea level, population, and land use, are used to guide NCA4’s evaluation of specific climate-related risks in regions and sectors across the...

Scenarios are plausible alternative futures, each describing what might happen under a range of possible assumptions about policy decisions and the behavior of the Earth system. By illustrating possible future conditions, scenarios provide a basis for analyzing the potential impacts of and responses to global change. USGCRP is working to develop scenarios of change for the United States that can feed into the sustained-assessment process and support the needs of both scientists and stakeholders, focused on population, demographics, land-use change, sea-level rise and coastal flood risk,...

With the release of the Third National Climate Assessment (see related Highlight 9) came a spike in public demand for information about climate change, its impacts on America, and USGCRP. The Program met this press of interest with a new user-friendly, public-oriented website that launched concurrently with the report’s release. The site deploys the Third National Climate Assessment in an interactive, shareable format. It also provides a dynamic suite of resources and information spanning the breadth of USGCRP and serving user groups including scientists, decision

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GSA owns or leases 9,624 assets, maintains workspace for 1.1 million Federal employees, preserves more than 481 historic properties, and procures more than $60 billion in products and services for the Federal Government. Climate change has the potential to impact the ability of GSA and other Federal agencies to fulfill their missions, operate their facilities, and maintain their services. With its region-by-region breakdown of climate data and projections, the Third National Climate Assessment (see related Highlight 9) and its supporting regional climate

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Scenario products supporting the Fourth National Climate Assessment

Developing Scenarios of Change

GlobalChange.gov Reloaded: USGCRP's New Website

Using the National Climate Assessment to Help Protect Federal Assets