Third National Climate Assessment

The Third National Climate Assessment, Climate Change Impacts in the United States, was published in 2014 and summarizes the impacts of climate change on the United States, now and in the future. A team of more than 300 experts guided by a 60-member Federal Advisory Committee produced the report, which was extensively reviewed by the public and experts, including federal agencies and a panel of the National Academy of Sciences.​

View the full report

USGCRP's Third National Climate Assessment (NCA) was informed by extensive public input gathered through town hall meetings, public comment periods, technical workshops, and other participatory opportunities across the country. The NCA engagement strategy leveraged science and assessment capacity across the country while working to ensure that the process and outcomes were accessible and useful to stakeholders. The information below documents stakeholder engagement around the Third NCA.

Public Comment Periods

• Initial comment period on objectives, proposed topics, and next steps in the development of the Third NCA (comments received | one additional comment)

• Comment period on the draft of the Third NCA (comments received | draft report)

Listening Sessions

• April 2011 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers

• April 2011 American Water Resource Association Spring Specialty Conference

• June 2011 International Symposium on Society and Resource Management

• July 2011 National Park Service Webinar (recording available upon request)

• August 2011 Annual Ecological Society of America Meeting

• January 2012 American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting

Process & Methodology Workshops

• February 2010 Midwest Regional Workshop
• February 2010 Strategic Planning Workshop
• September 2010 Knowledge Management Workshop
• November 2010 Regional Sectoral Workshop
• December 2010 Ecological Indicators Workshop
• December 2010 Climate Change Modeling and Downscaling Workshop
• December 2010 Scenarios Workshop
• January 2011 Vulnerability Assessments Workshop
• January 2011 Valuation Techniques and Metrics Workshop
• March 2011 Physical Climate Indicators Workshop
• April 2011 Societal Indicators Workshop

• June 2014 Frameworks for Evaluating the National Climate Assessment

Sectoral, Regional, & Crosscutting Topical Meetings

• September 2010 RISA Q&A session

• June 2011 Building Capacity in the Colorado River Basin

• July 2011 Forestry Sector Stakeholder Workshop

• July 2011 Midwest Regional Planning Workshop

• August 2011 Southwest Regional Organizational Team Meeting

• August 2011 Great Plains Regional Planning Workshop

• September 2011 Alaska Regional Technical Input Team Organizing Meeting

• September 2011 Northwest Regional Technical Input Team Meeting

• October 2011 Northeast Regional Organizational Team Meeting

• February 2012 Climate Change and Health Workshops

Regional Town Hall Meetings

• Hawaii & Pacific Islands - Honolulu, HI – December 11, 2012. As a part of Pacific Islands Regional Climate Forum; more information.

• Southwest - San Diego, CA – January 18, 2013. More information here.

• Northeast - Syracuse, NY – January 23, 2013. More information here.

• Great Plains - Lincoln, NE – February 4, 2013. More information here.

• Alaska & Arctic - Anchorage, AK – February 5, 2013. As a part of Alaska Forum on the Environment;  Presentations available here.

• Midwest - Ann Arbor, MI – February 12, 2013. More information here.

• Southeast - Tampa, FL – February 19, 2013. More information here.

• Northwest - Portland, OR – March 12, 2013. More information here.

• Oceans and Coasts - Washington, DC - April 22-23, 2013. More information here. Report: Oceans and Coasts Regional Town Hall

• July 13, 2011 - Federal Register Notice Request for Information inviting the public to provide comments and expressions of interest in offering technical inputs or assessment capacity on topics related to the Third National Climate Assessment. See also supplemental information and frequently asked questions. 

• September 7, 2011 - Federal Register Notice providing a target deadline for expressions of interest by October 1, 2011.

Sectors

Health

• National Climate Assessment Health Sector Literature Review and Bibliography: Technical Input for the Interagency Climate Change and Human Health Group (2012). Overview | Bibliography | Bibliography User’s Guide | Search Strategy and Results

• National Climate Assessment Health Sector Workshop: Northwest Region Report (2012)

• National Climate Assessment Health Sector Workshop: Southeast Region Report (2012) 

Agriculture

• Climate Change and Agriculture in the United States: Effects and Adaptation (2012); USDA Technical Bulletin 1935 PDF | Report FAQs

Biodiversity & Ecosystems

• Impacts of Climate Change on Biodiversity, Ecosystems, and Ecosystem Services: Technical Input to the 2013 National Climate Assessment (2012)

• A special open-access issue of ESA's Frontiers in Ecology on Impacts of Climate Change on Biodiversity, Ecosystems, and Ecosystem Services (2013)(link is external) incorporates 6 papers based on the above technical input

Forests

• Effects of Climatic Variability and Change on Forest Ecosystems: A Comprehensive Science Synthesis for the U.S. Forest Sector; Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-870, USDA, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station PDF | Report FAQs

Energy

• Climate Change and Energy Supply and Use: Technical Report to the U.S. Department of Energy in Support of the National Climate Assessment (2012); Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Water

• Water Resources Sector Technical Input – Interim Report In Support of the U.S. Global Change Research Program 2014 National Climate Assessment (2013)(link is external); U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Institute for Water Resources

Sectoral Crosscuts

Rural Communities

• Rural Communities Workshop Technical Report (2012)

Biogeochemical Cycles

• A special open access issue of ESA's Frontiers in Ecology on Biogenic Greenhouse Gases in North American Terrestrial Ecosystems (2012)(link is external) incorporates 8 papers first prepared as technical input to the Third NCA, with the support from the Carbon Cycle Interagency Working Group (CCIWG) member agencies and others

Urban Systems

• Climate Change and Infrastructure, Urban Systems, and Vulnerabilities: Technical Report to the U.S. Department of Energy in Support of the National Climate Assessment (2012); Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Energy-Water-Land

• Climate and Energy-Water-Land System Interactions: Technical Report to the U.S. Department of Energy in Support of the National Climate Assessment (2012); Report No. PNNL-21185, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Land Use & Land Cover Change

• National Climate Assessment Technical Report on the Impacts of Climate and Land Use and Land Cover Change (2012); U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2012-1155

Regions

• Northeast - Draft Technical Input Report: Climate Change in the Northeast - A Sourcebook - final version coming soon 

• Southeast - Climate of the Southeast United States: Variability, Change, Impacts, and Vulnerability (2012) PDF | Order a hard copy from Island Press

• Midwest - Climate Change in the Midwest: A Synthesis Report for the National Climate Assessment (2014) PDF| Order a hard copy from Island Press

• Great Plains - Great Plains Climate Assessment Technical Report (2015) PDF| Order a hard copy from Island Press

• Southwest - Assessment of Climate Change in the Southwest United States (2013) PDF | Order a hard copy from Island Press

• Northwest - Climate Change in the Northwest: Implications for Our Landscapes, Waters, and Communities (2013) PDF | Order a hard copy from Island Press

• Northwest - A Workshop in Risk-Based Framing of Climate Impacts in the Northwest: Implementing the National Climate Assessment Risk-Based Approach (2012)

• Alaska - The United States National Climate Assessment—Alaska Technical Regional Report (2012): U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1379 

• Hawaii & Pacific Islands - Climate Change and Pacific Islands: Indicators and Impacts (2012) PDF | Order a hard copy from Island Press

Regional Crosscuts

Coasts 

• Coastal Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability: A Technical Input to the 2013 National Climate Assessment (2012) PDF | Order a hard copy from Island Press

Oceans

• Oceans and Marine Resources in a Changing Climate: Technical Input to the 2013 National Climate Assessment (2013) PDF | Order a hard copy from Island Press

Scenarios

• Scenarios for Climate Assessment and Adaptation (Overview)

• Regional Scenarios

• Sea Level Rise Scenarios 

Adaptation, Mitigation, & Decision Support

• National Climate Assessment Indicators: Background, Development, Examples (2012)

• A Comprehensive Review of Climate Adaptation in the United States: More Than Before, But Less Than Needed (2013); Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change Vol. 18 (3)

Explore the Third National Climate Assessment and Highlights on the web or download supplemental materials below.

A number of organizations involved in NCAnet have produced resources related to USGCRP's Third National Climate Assessment. USGCRP provides the below links to these external resources for informational purposes only, and does not make any representation as to the accuracy of information, endorse any views expressed, or endorse or approve any commercial products or private interests that may be advertised or available on these sites.

• Spanish translations of select parts of the Third National Climate Assessment Highlights

• Synthesis of the Third National Climate Assessment for the Great Lakes Region produced by the Great Lakes Integrated Sciences + Assessments Center (GLISA) 

• Independently produced multimedia in support of the Third National Climate Assessment—in these two video series, NCA authors discuss key messages from their chapters, and Americans around the country talk about how climate change is already affecting their lives and livelihoods.

A 60-person Federal Advisory Committee (The "National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee" or NCADAC) oversaw the development of the draft climate report.  The NCADAC, whose members are available here (and listed in the report), was established under the Department of Commerce in December 2010 and is supported through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It is a federal advisory committee established as per the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972. The Committee serves to oversee the activities of the National Climate Assessment. Its members are diverse in background, expertise, geography and sector. A formal record of the committee can be found at the NOAA NCADAC website.  A list of the committee’s decisions and actions is available on our NCADAC info page.

The NCADAC engaged more than 250 authors in the creation of the report. The authors are acknowledged at the beginning of the chapters they co-authored.

A draft report was released in January 2013 for a 90-day public comment period. Over 4,000 public comments were received and addressed by the authors. A panel of the National Academies also reviewed the draft report and published its consensus report. The report was revised by the authors in response to the public comments and National Academies review.  NCADAC then submitted the Government Review Draft and the derivative Highlights document for formal interagency review. Final versions of the Third NCA and Highlights were adopted by NCADAC on May 6, 2014, and submitted to the Federal government.

The Public Review Draft, Government Review Draft, and NCADAC-approved Final Report can be found below.

To access and read the public review draft, government review draft, please download the full PDFs or individual chapters below.