Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Subcommittee on Natural Resources, Agriculture Research, and Environment
Climate change poses many challenges that affect society and the natural world. With these challenges, however, come opportunities to respond. By taking steps to adapt to and mitigate climate change, the risks to society and the impacts of continued climate change can be lessened. The National Climate Assessment, coordinated by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, is a mandated report intended to inform response decisions. Required to be developed every four years, these reports provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date evaluation of climate change impacts available for the United States, making them a unique and important climate change document. The draft Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) report reviewed here addresses a wide range of topics of high importance to the United States and society more broadly, extending from human health and community well-being, to the built environment, to businesses and economies, to ecosystems and natural resources. This report evaluates the draft NCA4 to determine if it meets the requirements of the federal mandate, whether it provides accurate information grounded in the scientific literature, and whether it effectively communicates climate science, impacts, and responses for general audiences including the public, decision makers, and other stakeholders.
Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Subcommittee on Natural Resources, Agriculture Research, and Environment
This comprehensive, current examination of U.S. law as it relates to global climate change begins with a summary of the factual and scientific background of climate change based on governmental statistics and other official sources. Subsequent chapters address the international and national frameworks of climate change law, including the Kyoto Protocol, state programs affected in the absence of a mandatory federal program, issues of disclosure and corporate governance, and the insurance industry. Also covered are the legal aspects of other efforts, including voluntary programs, emissions trading programs, and carbon sequestration.
Introduction / Thomas L Muinzer -- What do we mean when we talk about national 'climate change acts' and how important are they in the context of international climate law ? / Thomas L Muinzer -- 'Paris compatible' climate change acts? national framework legislation in an international world / Matthias Duwe and Ralph Bodle --The UK's Climate Change Act / Richard Macrory and Thomas L Muinzer -- Mexico's framework legislation on climate change : key features, achievements and challenges ahead / Alina Averchenkova -- Denmark's Climate Change Act(s) / Sarah Louise Nash -- Ireland's Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 : symbolic legislation, trojan horse, stepping stone? / Andrew Jackson -- The Swedish climate policy framework including the climate act / Åsa Romson and Kristina Forsbacka -- The Dutch response to climate change : evaluating the Netherlands' Climate Act and associated issues of importance / Otto Spijkers and Sofie Oosterhuis -- The New Zealand legislation : pursuing the 1.5 °C target using a net zero approach / Prue Taylor -- Conceptualising and formulating national climate change acts / Thomas L Muinzer.
To hide its dramatic findings, the government quietly released its mandated Climate Assessment Report on Black Friday 2018. Now, this full color reproduction is the definitive edition of ”the most comprehensive assessment of the effects of climate change on the United States” (The New York Times), which every citizen should own. The US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) is mandated by law "at least every four years ... to submit to the president and the Congress an assessment regarding the findings of ... the effects of global change, and current and major long-term trends in global change." The report was released by the Trump administration without fanfare in the wake of a series of some of the most devastating hurricanes in American history, as well as the horrific California wildfires. As the report says, "The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid." Detailing not only the destructive toll of global warming on the environment, but also the related health issues leading to tens of thousands of deaths per year, and economic losses of tens of billions of dollars, the report concludes that "The evidence of human-caused climate change is overwhelming and continues to strengthen, that the impacts of climate change are intensifying across the country, and that climate-related threats ... are rising."