• Warming will be accompanied by decreases in demand for heating energy and increases in demand for cooling energy. The latter will result in significant increases in electricity use and higher peak demand in most regions.

• Energy production is likely to be constrained by rising temperatures and limited water supplies in many regions.

• Energy production and delivery systems are exposed to sea level rise and extreme weather events in vulnerable regions.

• Climate change is likely to affect some renewable energy sources across the nation, such as hydropower production in regions subject to changing patterns of precipitation or snowmelt.

Full “Energy Supply and Use” Report by USGCRP

• Sea level rise and storm surge will increase the risk of major coastal impacts, including both temporary and permanent flooding of airports, roads, rail lines, and tunnels.

• Flooding from increasingly intense downpours will increase the risk of disruptions and delays in air, rail, and road transportation, and damage from mudslides in some areas.

• The increase in extreme heat will limit some transportation operations and cause pavement and track damage. Decreased extreme cold will provide some benefits such as reduced snow and ice removal costs.

• Increased intensity of strong hurricanes would lead to more evacuations, infrastructure damage and failure, and transportation interruptions.

• Arctic warming will continue to reduce sea ice, lengthening the ocean transport season, but also resulting in greater coastal erosion due to waves.

• Permafrost thaw in Alaska will damage infrastructure. The ice road season will become shorter.

Full “Transportation” Report by USGCRP

• Many crops show positive responses to elevated carbon dioxide and low levels of warming, but higher levels of warming often negatively affect growth and yields.

• Extreme events such as heavy downpours and droughts are likely to reduce crop yields because excesses or deficits of water have negative impacts on plant growth.

• Weeds, diseases, and insect pests benefit from warming, and weeds also benefit from a higher carbon dioxide concentration, increasing stress on crop plants and requiring more attention to pest and weed control.

• Forage quality in pastures and rangelands generally declines with increasing carbon dioxide concentration because of the effects on plant nitrogen and protein content, reducing the land’s ability to supply adequate livestock feed.

• Increased heat, disease, and weather extremes are likely to reduce livestock productivity.

Full “Agriculture” Report by USGCRP

Wild Rogue River / photo by Kevin Shaffer

• Ecosystem processes, such as those that control growth and decomposition, have been affected by climate change.

• Large-scale shifts have occurred in the ranges of species and the timing of the seasons and animal migration, and are very likely to continue.

• Fires, insect pests, disease pathogens, and invasive weed species have increased, and these trends are likely to continue.

• Deserts and dry lands are likely to become hotter and drier, feeding a self-reinforcing cycle of invasive plants, fire, and erosion.

• Coastal and near-shore ecosystems are already under multiple stresses.

• Climate change and ocean acidification will exacerbate these stresses.

• Arctic sea ice ecosystems are already being adversely affected by the loss of summer sea ice and further changes are expected.

• The habitats of some mountain species and coldwater fish, such as salmon and trout, are very likely to contract in response to warming.

Full “Ecosystems” Report by USGCRP

Increases in the risk of illness and death related to extreme heat and heat waves are very likely. Some reduction in the risk of death related to extreme cold is expected.

• Warming is likely to make it more challenging to meet air quality standards necessary to protect public health.

• Extreme weather events cause physical and mental health problems. Some of these events are projected to increase.

• Some diseases transmitted by food, water, and insects are likely to increase.

• Rising temperature and carbon dioxide concentration increase pollen production and prolong the pollen season in a number of plants with highly allergenic pollen, presenting a health risk.

• Certain groups, including children, the elderly, and the poor, are most vulnerable to a range of climate-related health effects

Full “Human Health” Report by USGCRP

• Population shifts and development choices are making more Americans vulnerable to the expected impacts of climate change.

• Vulnerability is greater for those who have few resources and few choices.

• City residents and city infrastructure have unique vulnerabilities to climate change.

• Climate change affects communities through changes in climate-sensitive resources that occur both locally and at great distances.

• Insurance is one of the industries particularly vulnerable to increasing extreme weather events such as severe storms, but it can also help society manage the risks.

• The United States is connected to a world that is unevenly vulnerable to climate change and thus will be affected by impacts in other parts of the world.

Full “Society” Report by USGCRP

Projected Climate Change Impacts in Your Area
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• Sea level has risen by 8 inches since the beginning of  the 20th century.

• Since the late 1800s, average temperature has increased globally by about 1.3 degrees F. Some regions, such as the Southwestern U.S., had temperature increases of more than 2.5 degrees F. 

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