What Are Climate Services?
Climate services are scientifically based, usable information, products, and activities that enhance knowledge and understanding about the impacts of climate change on potential decisions and actions.
The accelerating pace of climate change and its impacts, being felt now across the country, emphasizes the urgent and expedient need for the federal government to expand and advance climate services.
The vision is to create an integrated federal ecosystem of products, tools, and people that is accessible to decision-makers, businesses, and frontline communities facing the impacts of climate change, where these stakeholders will have seamless access to the full suite of federal knowledge and tools to help inform decisions relating to adaptation, mitigation, and building resiliency.
Sources: Federal Framework and Action Plan for Climate Services (NSTC, 2023); Fifth National Climate Assessment
Mandate
USGCRP’s coordination of federal climate services is consistent with the Global Change Research Act of 1990, its 2022-2031 Strategic Plan, the National Science and Technology Council's (NSTC) Federal Framework and Action Plan for Climate Services, and the charter of the NSTC Subcommittee on Climate Services (SCS).
USGCRP’s cohesive coordination of global change research and climate services ensures diverse user needs are reflected in science applications and decision-relevant work, and that climate services feature the latest advances in scientific information for climate-informed decision-making in adaptation, mitigation, and resilience.
About the Subcommittee on Climate Services
The purpose of the SCS is to coordinate the provision of federal climate services, building a more cohesive and strategic federal climate services enterprise that:
Meets the diverse range of needs across the Nation;
Reduces burden on users to find, access, and use such data and services; and
Enhances effective and equitable climate services development and delivery.
See the organizational structure of USGCRP and the SCS and list of SCS Principals here.
Implementing the Federal Framework and Action Plan for Climate Services
USGCRP has initiated and achieved many of the priority recommendations that enhance and improve interagency coordination of federal climate services, better linking both producers and users of climate data, tools, information, and technical assistance. This includes:
Launching the first-ever Climate Services Forum (November 2023)
Chartering and establishing a new Subcommittee on Climate Services under the National Science and Technology Council (January 2024)
Creating new staff positions to facilitate interagency coordination activities on climate services (February-April 2024)
Initiating common platforms and infrastructure of climate services, including an inventory of climate services (May 2024)
Our Engagement
USGCRP planned and hosted the first-ever Climate Services Forum on November 8, 2023 in Washington, DC, at the Department of the Interior. This event brought together over 225 participants from the federal government and non-federal partners including state climatologists; local, county, and state governments; university researchers; the private sector; and other non-governmental organizations. The event advanced recommendations from the Federal Framework and Action Plan for Climate Services and National Climate Resilience Framework on enhancing federal coordination of climate services. Throughout the event, the Forum weaved three important themes:
Building equitable and effective federal climate services
Better linking climate services with climate-smart infrastructure investments, especially those from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)
Reiterating the importance of partnerships, especially with our non-federal partners
In November 2023, USGCRP and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) organized and moderated a U.S. Center event at COP28 on Advancing Early Warning Systems and Climate Services for All. Participants included the American Geophysical Union, NOAA, OSTP, USAID, and USGCRP.
Description: The United States is a leader in developing and delivering actionable climate services, including early warning systems, for all. This session will show key examples of how U.S. investments in early warning systems and climate information services are helping communities in adaptation, mitigation, and resilience efforts across multiple scales and sectors. This panel will highlight partnerships and international collaborations on climate services that advance locally-tailored, decision-relevant approaches.
In December 2023, USGCRP and OSTP held a town hall at the American Geophysical Union Fall 2023 Meeting, titled Expanding and Enhancing Climate Information and Services: A Whole-of-Government Framework and Action Plan. The session featured agency leaders from NOAA, USDA, FEMA, and NSF describing how their climate services contribute to more cohesive and coherent whole-of-government effort. We have plans to host a town hall again in 2024.
In January 2024, USGCRP and OSTP held a town hall at the American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting titled Expanding and Enhancing Climate Information Services: A Whole-of-Government Framework and Action Plan, and included agency perspectives across the entire climate services value chain - both producers and users - including OSTP/USGCRP, NOAA, NASA, FEMA, and HUD.