National Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change

The U.S. Global Change Research Program on November 11, 2000 released the summary report of the first comprehensive scientific assessment of the potential consequences of global warming on the United States. The National Assessment synthesis documents (Overview and Foundation documents) can be viewed online at http://www.gcrio.org/NationalAssessment.

The document, known as Climate Change Impacts on the United States: The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change, synthesizes a massive scientific research effort that took more than three years to produce, involving every region of the United States and hundreds of experts from the scientific, business, governmental and environmental communities.

As scientists, community activists and interested stakeholders in both the process and outcome of the national assessment, we have developed a package of short impact guides to a number of key regions and sectors covered in the report to help summarize the important findings.

The guides were written and peer reviewed by environmental experts and scientists to ensure an accurate appraisal of the consequences stemming from global warming.