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2008 Climate Change Impacts Assessment
Second Biennial Science Report to the California Climate Action Team

Recognizing California's vulnerability to the impacts of climate change, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issued Executive Order S-03-05 on June 1, 2005, mandating (among other directives) the preparation of biennial science reports on the potential impacts of climate change on California and the identification of adaptation options. The Climate Action Team (CAT), headed by the Secretary for Environmental Protection, submits these reports to the Governor and the Legislature.

The first biennial science report to the Climate Action Team report was released in 2006. The report summarized major findings of the 2006 Climate Change Impacts Assessment, which provided a valuable initial overview of climate impacts on key sectors in the state that are expected under alternative greenhouse gas emission scenarios.

The California Energy Commission's Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) Program is leading an effort to expand, improve, and further develop the analysis of projected impacts under multiple climate change scenarios. The findings, based on 40 studies, will be presented in a 2008 Climate Change Impacts Assessment.

2008 Climate Change Impacts Assessment Project - Second Biennial Science Report to the California Climate Action Team

The Future is Now: An Update on Climate Change Science Impacts and Response Options for California, publication # CEC-500-2008-071, posted May 5, 2009. (Acrobat PDF, 114 pages, 3.8 megabytes)

This report presents an interim summary of the latest in climate change science and outlines recommended response options for decision makers in California. This document contains four key messages:

• Observed changes in temperature, sea level, precipitation regime, fire frequency, and agricultural and ecological systems reveal that California is already experiencing the measurable effects of climate change.
• Scientific confidence in attributing climate change to human activities has increased since the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4), which was recently made available by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
• New scientific studies suggest that the climatic and hydrologic changes already experienced in California are due to human activity.
• Unmitigated climate change will lead to grave consequences for California's economy and ecosystems. Furthermore, it appears that even a scenario that drastically curtails emissions of greenhouse gases may still lead to undesirable trends in warming and sea-level rise.

A rapid two-pronged response to climate that which encompasses both mitigation and adaptation has the potential to promote innovative investment by businesses and protect environmental quality while increasing community preparedness and capacity to cope with change. Conversely, a path of inaction exposes a community's vulnerability to climate variability and is ultimately costly.

BROCHURE ON 2008 PROJECT
The Future Is Now: An Update on Climate Change Science, Impacts, and Response Options for California, publication # CEC-500-2008-077, posted Septmber 15, 2008. (Acrobat PDF, 12 pages, 2.1 megabytes)

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