NCICS Journey in Developing a NC Climate Science Report

North Carolina’s Executive Order 80 Section 9 calls for NC’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), with support from cabinet agencies and stakeholders, to prepare a North Carolina Climate Risk Assessment and Resiliency Plan. As part of this effort, DEQ engaged with the North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies (NCICS) to request assistance in preparing a climate science report that provides the best science data and information for NC and its three regions, including summaries of past climate trends and future climate projections for North Carolina, that will help support the development of the risk and resiliency plans. NCICS coordinated set of discussions early in the process to understand the needs and stressors from DEQ and the department designees for climate parameters of interest that could be assessed and evaluated for inclusion in the climate science report. The user-driven perspective and engagement has led to the development of a climate science report plan that extends the experience from the National Climate Assessment Technical Support Unit, supports the decision-maker, and provides insights to the scientific community on the utility and gaps of the climate science information to enable future research foci. The report development is led by NCICS with the scientific assistance of a Climate Science Advisory Panel, a team of NC’s leading climate science academic experts.

This presentation provides the key climate change messages in North Carolina as well as the overall engagement experience with the DEQ in support of their goals for developing actionable climate science information that can support decision-making.