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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 more than 40 studies, will be presented in a 2008 Climate Change Impacts Assessment.

The 2008 Climate Impacts Assessment will build on the 2006 study to meet three goals:

• Improve the assessment of climate changes in the California region and associated impacts on key physical and biological indicators.


• Begin to translate these physical and biological impacts into sectoral economic impacts.


• Begin to develop and evaluate strategies for key sectors or regions for adapting to climate changes already underway.

The successful coordination and completion of such a large number of studies is a complex and intensive effort requiring the cooperation of many governmental and research entities.

Overview of 2008 Assessment Project

A brief overview of 2008 Climate Change Impacts Assessment was presented during the Fourth Annual Research Conference on Climate Change, held in Sacramento, California, in September 2007.

Please click here to download the PDF file of the presentations on this topic given on Wednesday, September 12, 2007. (PDF file, 1.1 megabytes)

For Scope of Work and other particulars of the project, see the "Project Info" links in the upper lefthand column.

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For more information about the 2008 Climate Change Impacts Assessment, please contact: