The recently released "Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) 2017/2018,"which affirms the existence of climate change and that climate change will cost the U.S. economy hundreds of billions of dollars, is a slap to the face of president Donald Trump and the Republican Party that both continue to deny the existence of climate change.
First issued in 2000 under the presidency of George Bush, the report is mandated by law through the Global Change Research Act of 1990 and is submitted to the U.S. Congress every four years. There have been four reports since then.
This newest report consists of 1,500 pages and was prepared by the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP). It was produced with the assistance of 1,000 people, including 300 leading scientists, roughly half from outside the government.
NCA4 says that without more significant mitigation efforts, there will be "substantial damages to the U.S. economy, human health, and the environment. Under scenarios with high emissions and limited or no adaptation, annual losses in some sectors are estimated to grow to hundreds of billions of dollars by the end of the century."'
It reports that across the United States, damage from climate change is "intensifying". The report, which analyzed the effects of climate change by U.S. region, emphasized that poor and marginalized communities will be the most negatively impacted by the intensifying storms and weather patterns caused by global warming.
With continued growth in emissions at historic rates, annual losses in some economic sectors are projected to reach hundreds of billions of dollars by the end of the century -- more than the current gross domestic product (GDP) of many U.S. states.
The two-part report, which took two years to complete, is the first major Trump administration climate report,
NCA4 said that projections of further damage might change if greenhouse gas emissions are sharply curbed, even though many of the impacts of climate change are already underway. The impacts include more frequent and more powerful storms, droughts and flooding. NCA4 emphasized that future risks from climate change depend primarily on decisions made today.
The report supplements a study issued last year that concluded humans are the main driver of global warming and warned of catastrophic effects to the planet.
The studies clash with Trump's climate denial policies. Trump has been eliminating Obama-era environmental and climate protections to maximize production of domestic fossil fuels.
The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) describes how NCA4 is based on "the best available science." NCA4 serves to assist the U.S. in understanding, assessing, predicting and responding to climate change. It examines the climate and economic impacts U.S. residents could expect if drastic action is not taken to address climate change.
The entire report can be read at www.globalchange.gov
