Research Priorities for Robust Climate Assessments in the United States
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: 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 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 cocreation 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 subnational 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, subnational, 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 road map 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 United States. PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY Scientific assessments are critical in informing households, communities, businesses, institutions, and governments as they respond to intensifying climate hazards. As climate change impacts accelerate, the pace of assessment and integration of science with decision-making and action must accelerate as well. A network of U.S. climate assessment efforts could rapidly synthesize actionable science and case studies to inform climate response strategies. To support future processes, this paper presents a selection of foundational topics needing assessment and near-term research across climate impacts, risks, and actions from the perspective of the United States and some of its key regions, environments, and economic sectors. For example, assessment is needed for the increasing threats posed by compound extremes and cascading climate risks, which can overwhelm systems developed for independent events. The effectiveness of climate responses likewise requires continuous evaluation and improvement, with consideration of the broader impacts (e.g., economic, environmental, health) associated with those strategies. System-level understanding of integrated climate response strategies can be advanced by combining observations and modeling with mitigation, adaptation, climate interventions, disaster management, and resilience decision scenarios. Overall, these research priorities aim to encourage new research and future national, regional, local, and sectoral climate assessments that support climate-informed decision-making in the United States.
Authors: 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, 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. Zuetell
Institutions: University of Minnesota, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Washington, Johns Hopkins University, Stanford University, Gulf of Maine Research Institute, Electric Power Research Institute, University of New Hampshire, University of Idaho, New York University, Pennsylvania State University, University of Nevada, Reno, Cornell University, University of Alaska Fairbanks, University of California, Davis, University of California, Santa Barbara, University of Delaware, Texas Tech University, Utah State University, Purdue University West Lafayette, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Tanana Chiefs Conference, Council of Athabascan Tribal Governments, Iowa State University, University of California, Berkeley, American Geophysical Union, University of Michigan, Baruch College, City University of New York, University of California, Santa Cruz, University of California, Irvine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, State University of New York, University at Albany, State University of New York, Wayne State University, University of Oklahoma, Museum of Life and Science, Emory University, Yale University, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana University, Union of Concerned Scientists, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University of Maine, Tulane University, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Curtin University, Oregon State University, Portland State University, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, Carleton University, The Ohio State University, SUNY Oneonta, Michigan State University, Arizona State University, Bates College, Resources For The Future, University of Maryland, College Park, North Carolina State University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Arizona, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Boston University, Harvard University, Northern Illinois University, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, University of Notre Dame, Colorado State University, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of Miami, Oregon State University Cascades, University of British Columbia, Appalachian State University, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Georgetown University, University of North Dakota, South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium, RAND Corporation, Kansas State University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Buck Institute for Research on Aging
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7214041781