The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) today announced that Dr. Rachel Cleetus, senior policy director for the Climate and Energy program at UCS, is a co-author of the commentary “Research priorities for robust climate assessments in the United States” published in Earth’s Future and Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. The paper brings together 175 authors to outline research priorities that can inform future national, regional, local, sectoral and topical climate assessments.
The commentary is the first paper in the U.S. Climate Collection: Informing Assessment of Risks and Solutions—a joint special collection of the American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological Society that will publish U.S.-focused climate assessment science and research synthesis papers that can inform future national and sub-national assessments.
Dr. Rachel Cleetus contributed to the commentary through her expertise in coastal climate risks and resilience. Her contribution focused on the “Coasts” section of the paper, highlighting assessment research priorities including deepening understanding of compound coastal flood risks and evaluating the need for transformative adaptation given the accelerating pace and scale of coastal change. The section also highlights the importance of compounding and systemic economic risks beyond the coast, including impacts on mortgage, insurance and property markets; infrastructure costs; property tax bases; and municipal bond markets, as well as systemic impacts on migration and displacement of people.
“This paper was a labor of love. Every author volunteered their time and expertise to help ensure that decisionmakers, community leaders, and the broader public have access to the latest climate science,” said Dr. Cleetus. “Climate change is driving accelerating sea level rise along vast swathes of the nation’s coastline, putting people’s lives, property and vital infrastructure at risk of flooding, coastal erosion and saltwater intrusion. Understanding the nature of those risks and their timeframes is crucial to help inform adaptation measures to protect communities, businesses, critical economic assets and vital ecosystems. What happens along our coasts affects all of us, no matter where we live, because our lives, livelihoods and economic systems are closely intertwined.”
The commentary identifies assessment opportunities and research needs across planetary-scale systems, environmental settings, economic sectors, U.S. regions and U.S. international interests. Across these areas, the authors identify several cross-cutting priorities for research synthesis, including how greenhouse gas emissions continue to alter and amplify climate hazards; how compounding extremes and cascading risks are straining legacy policies, infrastructure and institutions; how social systems shape both climate impacts and responses; and how future assessments should evaluate mitigation, adaptation, disaster management, climate interventions, and resilience planning and implementation decisions as a climate action portfolio.
Scientific assessments synthesize complex bodies of evidence so households, communities, businesses, institutions and governments can make informed decisions as climate hazards intensify. The most recent U.S. National Climate Assessment was published in 2023; scientific understanding has advanced since then, and climate assessments are continuing by states, localities and businesses. The commentary argues that the pace of assessment and the integration of science with decision-making must accelerate as climate impacts continue to grow.