ERG Coordinating New York State’s Climate Impacts Assessment

Climate change is already affecting New York State’s many diverse communities, ecosystems, and industries—and it will continue to do so. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has selected ERG to serve as the coordinator for its New York State Climate Impacts Assessment: Understanding and Preparing for Our Changing Climate, which launched this fall with the goal of understanding and documenting current and future climate change-related impacts across the state. Led by a diverse group of New York-based and national experts and stakeholders, the assessment will provide local, state, and national decisionmakers with the tools and information they need to take current and projected climate change impacts into consideration. It will also focus on assessing impacts to vulnerable populations and environmental justice communities.    

To date, ERG has helped NYSERDA design the assessment process; articulate eight key sectors of focus; assemble diverse sector-based technical workgroups to lead the assessment’s day-to-day work; and convene technical meetings to kick off the assessment. Over the next two years, ERG will continue to support planning, logistics, publishing technical findings, and translating scientific information into useful and accessible digital communication products.

ERG is collaborating with NYSERDA and more than 60 universities, companies, agencies, and nonprofit organizations to ensure that the climate assessment is driven by the issues that matter to a wide range of New Yorkers and contains the information they need to make climate-smart decisions. For more information, visit the website and sign up to receive assessment updates; follow the assessment on Twitter; and follow NYSERDA on LinkedIn.