Research Priorities for Robust Climate Assessments in the United States
Melissa A. Kenney, Robert E. Kopp, Constantine Samaras, Marina Alberti, Sonia Y. Angell, Jennifer Burney, Colin Cunliff, J. T. Duffy‐Anderson, Laura West Fischer, Serita D. Frey, Jeffrey A. Hicke, Peter H. Howard, Alessandra Jerolleman, Christine J. Kirchhoff, Elizabeth A. Koebele, Natalie M. Mahowald, Nicole Misarti, Dharshani L. Pearson, Alexandra A. Phillips, A. R. Siders, Prabhjot K. Singh, Nicholas G. Smith, Lida T. Teneva, Jessica D. Ulrich‐Schad, Jeffrey J. Volenec, Kofi Akamani, Alisa J. Alexander, Claire E. Anderson, J. G. Arbuckle, Maximilian Auffhammer, Christopher W. Avery, Shalanda H. Baker, Deborah Balk, Michele Barbato, Patrick L. Barnard, Alexander B. Basaraba, Dominic J. Bednar, Jesse E. Bell, D. Bennett Gayle, Laprisha Berry Daniels, Darrian Bertrand, John E. T. Bistline, Corey L. Brelsfoard, Tania Briceno, Maxine Burkett, Michael Burnham, John A. Callahan, Clare E. B. Cannon, Courtney Carothers, Rebecca H. Carter, Max Cawley, J. Mijin Cha, Howard H. Chang, Michael H. Chang, Oriana S. Chegwidden, Kai Chen, Brian S. Cheng, Guangqing Chi, Eric K. Chu, Rachel Cleetus, Anna Connor, Amelia A. Cook, Dontá Council, Kevin R. Cromar, Katherine J. Curtis, John J. Daigle, Christopher DeLyser Roney, Simone J. Domingue, John E. Drake, Kristie L. Ebi, Emile H. Elias, Neal L. Fann, Erica Fleishman, Elliott T. Gall, Eliza Ghitis, Elisabeth A. Gilmore, Sathya Gopalakrishnan, Daniel Grafton, S. A. Gray, Roger B. Griffis, Nancy B. Grimm, Antonia Hadjimichael, Xueying Han, Jamie A. Haverkamp, Jeremy J. Hess, Paul F. Hessburg, Kristen Averyt Hinton, David M. Hondula, Bryan Hubbell, Nathan Hultman, Cassandra Jean, Sikina Jinnah, Jeremiah X. Johnson, Steven Mana'oakamai Johnson, Victoria A. Johnson, Kristal Jones, P. Ozge Kaplan, Samuel Kay, Jesse M. Keenan, Ladd Keith, Heather H. Kim, Patrick L. Kinney, Steven F. Koller, Matthew A. Konfirst, Ann Kosmal, Meade B. Krosby, W. O. Lamp, Kevin Lanza, Joshua Lappen, Jan E. Leach, Chia‐Ying Lee, Flavio Lehner, Yishen Li, Lindsay A. Luchinsky, Katharine J. Mach, Julie Maldonado, Sparkle L. Malone, Amelia A. M. Marchand, Elizabeth Marino, Ezra M. Markowitz, Eric R. Masanet, Guillaume S. Mauger, Christine L. May, Kathryn McConnell, Pamela McElwee, Michael Mendez, Ariane Middel, Stephanie K. Mladinich, Renato Molina, Nicholas Nassikas, Roshanak Nateghi, Robert Newman, Megan E. O’Rourke, Renee Obringer, Ariel Ortiz‐Bobea, Emily B. Osborne, Alexander (Sascha) Petersen, Benjamin L. Preston, Jagadeesh Puvvula, Marilyn N. Raphael, Crystal L. Raymond, Kevin A. Reed, Katharine L. Ricke, James Rising, Katherine S. Rocci, Bernice R. Rosenzweig, Stacia Ryder, Brett F. Sanders, Matthew R. Sanderson, Rachel E. Schattman, N. A. Seeteram, Linda Shi, Lauren Sidner, Samantha A. Siedlecki, Deepti Singh, Rolf E. Sonnerup, Caiti Steele, Eric Tate, Jonathan R. Thompson, Philip R. Thompson, Lynée L. Turek‐Hankins, Nicola Ulibarri, Paul A. Ullrich, Chenghao Wang, Melissa Ward, Melissa Ward Jones, Cavin Ward‐Caviness, Jessica C. Whitehead, Michael T. Wilson, Richelle L. Winkler, Adrienne M. Wootten, George Xian, Georgine G. Yorgey, Abigail M. York, Emily J. ZuetellAbstract
Scientific assessments play a critical role in synthesizing evidence to support evidence‐based decision‐making in many sectors and topics. For climate change, large‐scale assessments like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United States (U.S.) National Climate Assessment (NCA) reports help many different users—from national government to local governments, Indigenous Peoples and communities, the private sector, the social sector, and the scientific community itself—navigate the complex field of climate risks, impacts, and integrated solutions. While co‐creation with users is essential to developing actionable assessments, this paper lays the groundwork for future processes by identifying many advancing and emerging areas of relevant knowledge ready for assessment or additional near‐term research. Drawing on the expertise of many scholars who were formerly tasked with producing the Sixth NCA and authors of other national or sub‐national climate assessment reports, this paper highlights select U.S.‐relevant topics in which research advances since the 2023 Fifth NCA make new syntheses particularly valuable for future national, sub‐national, and sectoral climate assessments. It also identifies critical research topics in those select areas that would be useful for future climate assessment efforts. Overall, this research priorities roadmap aims to catalyze collaborations, research, and a network of climate assessments to synthesize the state of climate impacts, risks, and responses and to provide widely accessible and foundational information for sectoral, regional, and cross‐cutting climate action plans and decisions in the U.S.