Climate Science: Decision-Making in a Warmer World

Overview

Climate change is a growing threat with global impact. Shifts in the climate present special challenges for urban areas where more than half of the world’s population lives. New York City residents, for example, are already feeling the effects through recurrent flooding in coastal communities, warmer temperatures across all five boroughs, and strains in the city’s infrastructure during heavy downpours and extreme weather events. As a result, cities like New York require the best-available climate science to develop tangible policies for resilience, mitigation, and adaptation.

On March 15, 2019, climate scientists, city planners, and community and industry stakeholders attended the Science for Decision-Making in a Warmer World summit at the New York Academy of Sciences to discuss how cities are responding to the effects of climate change. The event marked the 10^th anniversary of a successful partnership between the New York City Panel on Climate Change (NPCC), the City of New York, and the New York Academy of Sciences. Established in 2008, the NPCC has opened new frontiers of urban climate science to build the foundation for resiliency actions in the New York metropolitan region.

Learn about the NPCC’s latest research findings and their implications for New York City and other cities seeking to identify and mitigate the effects of climate change in this summary.

Photo Credit: The Day After Yesterday by [mementosis]available under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Meeting Highlights

• NPCC research provides tools to inform and shape climate change resilience in New York City and other cities around the globe. 
• Shifts in mean and extreme climate conditions significantly impact cities and communities worldwide. 
• Cities can move forward by adopting flexible adaptation pathways, an overall approach to developing effective climate change adaptation strategies for a region under conditions of increasing risk.
• There is a growing recognition that resilience strategies need to be inclusive of community perspectives.