Special Assessment Reports: A Critical Part of the Sustained National Climate Assessment Process

Abstract:

The U.S. Global Change Research program is conducting a sustained National Climate Assessment process that will ultimately facilitate continuous and transparent participation of scientists and stakeholders across regions and sectors, enabling new information and insights to be synthesized as they emerge. Focused scientific assessments, such as the Second State of the Carbon Cycle Report (SOCCR-2), are a critical component of the process, as they synthesize new science and provide decision makers with actionable information. These special assessments provide opportunities for scientific experts and decision makers to share knowledge about the climate-related issues, impacts, and potential response actions that are most important to a particular topic, region, or sector. The development process for USGCRP’s sustained assessment products is also highly transparent in order to produce results that are credible, salient, and legitimate for both scientists and stakeholders. Ultimately, the rigorous and transparent process makes the results of scientific assessments of climate-related information extremely useful to decision makers.