General Climate Change Resources

Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States
This June 2009 report by the U.S. Global Change Research Program examines the impacts of climate change on different regions of the U.S. and various sectors of the economy.

Programs, Tools & Resources to Assist Local Governments: Implementing Your Climate Action Plans (PDF)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) created a directory in February 2008 of general resources and grant funding opportunities and specific EPA programs, tools and resources to assist officials and organizations address climate change at the local community level.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
The Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading body for the assessment of climate change, established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic consequences. The IPCC reviews and assesses the most recent scientific, technical and socio-economic information produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of climate change.
 
The Center for Climate Strategies
The Center for Climate Strategies (CCS) helps governments and their stakeholders tackle climate change issues by fostering consensus-based actions through collaboration and advanced technical assistance.
 
The Climate Literacy Network
The Climate Literacy Network provides a forum for organizations, agencies and individuals to collaborate for climate education.  Members share ideas, coordinate efforts, promote policy reform, develop learning resources and support integration of climate literacy into formal and informal education venues. 

The Pew Center on Global Climate Change
The Pew Center on Global Climate Change is a non-profit, non-partisan and independent organization. The Center's mission is to provide credible information, straight answers, and innovative solutions in the effort to address global climate change. The Pew Center provides a forum for objective research and analysis and for the development of pragmatic policies and solutions.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Climate Change Information
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Change website provides information related to all aspects of climate change, including scientific analyses, greenhouse gas emissions inventories and projections, health and environmental effects, economic analyses, and regulatory and policy initiatives.

University of Maryland Center for Integrative Environmental Research
The Center for Integrative Environmental Research (CIER) at the University of Maryland provides a focal point for multidisciplinary environmental research and collaboration on local, regional, national and international scales.  Research initiatives focus on climate change adaptation, climate change mitigation, and sustainability.

Planners Energy and Climate Database
The American Planning Association’s Planners Energy and Climate Database includes sample documents from communities that have taken steps to integrate energy and climate change issues into planning, states that have addressed climate change issues in plans or policies, and other relevant documents to help planners understand and address energy and climate change. 

Iowa Climate Change Advisory Council Final Report
Part I (PDF)
Part II (PDF)
The Iowa Climate Change Advisory Council (ICCAC) Final Report outlines greenhouse gas emission reduction proposals for the State of Iowa.  The report includes an inventory and forecast of the State’s greenhouse gas emissions; a comprehensive package of multi-sector policy options to reduce emissions and address related energy and commerce issues; a quantitative analysis of the direct costs and direct cost savings of the policy options; and a description of two potential greenhouse gas reductions scenarios and associated recommendations.

Transportation-specific Resources

USDOT Transportation and Climate Change Clearinghouse
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Transportation and Climate Change Clearinghouse provides information related to transportation and climate change issues. It includes information on greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories, analytic methods and tools, GHG reduction strategies, potential impacts of climate change on transportation infrastructure, and approaches for integrating climate change considerations into transportation decision making.

Highways & Climate Change Clearinghouse
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)’s Highways & Climate Change web site provides information on FHWA research, publications, and resources related to climate change science, policies, and actions, including current state and local practices in adapting to climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

TravelMatters
The Center for Neighborhood Technology’s (CNT) TravelMatters website explores how travel habits and transportation choices affect global climate change.  Resources include interactive emissions calculators, on-line emissions maps, and educational materials which emphasize the relationship between efficient transit systems and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Transportation's Role in Reducing U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions 
Volume I: Synthesis Report (PDF)
Volume II: Technical Report (large PDF)

The U.S. DOT’s April 2010 report analyzes the range of activities that could be used to reduce emissions, including advanced technologies and fuels to reduce vehicle emissions; routing flights more efficiently; managing travel demand through land use, pricing and investing in transit, bicycle and pedestrian facilities; education on eco-driving; and improved operations.

NCHRP Web-only Document 152: Assessing Mechanisms for Integrating Transportation-Related Greenhouse Gas Reduction Objectives into Transportation Decision Making (PDF)
The Transportation Research Board released this web-only document through the National Cooperative Highway Research Program in early 2010.  The document is intended to provide a basis for assessing alternative methods that state DOTs and regional planning organizations can use to manage transportation-related GHG emissions.  With information for policymakers, the project explains how these approaches would affect states and regions, which strategies may be most effective and what tools are available to help organizations implement new approaches.

Assessing Mechanisms for Integrating Transportation-Related Greenhouse Gas Reduction Objectives into Transportation Decision Making (PDF)
This 2010 publication by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program is intended to help policy makers to understand alternative methods for managing approaches to GHG emissions from transportation, what approaches may be most effective for evaluating mobile-source GHG emission-management strategies, and what particular tools are available to support implementation of these alternative approaches.

Climate Change - Model Language in Transportation Plans
The report, released by the Federal Highway Administration in 2010, provides excerpts from various MPO and DOT transportation plans that illustrate how climate change considerations have been integrated into the documents. Agencies that are looking for ideas about how to incorporate climate change into their transportation plans could find the model language very useful.

Integrating Climate Change into the Transportation Planning Process
This report, prepared by ICF International for the Federal Highway Administration, explores the possibilities for integrating climate change considerations into long range transportation planning at state DOTs and MPOs.  The report reviews the experience of a number of DOTs and MPOs that are already incorporating climate change into their transportation planning processes and identifies their successes as well as challenges faced by these agencies.

Integration of Climate Change Considerations in Statewide and Regional Transportation Planning Processes (PDF)
This July 2009 report from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Volpe National Transportation Systems Center at the Research and Innovative Technologies Administration highlights innovative actions and initiatives undertaken by states and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to incorporate climate change considerations as part of the transportation planning process.  The report provides analysis, observations, and lessons learned from the case studies and panels.

Regional Climate Change Effects: Useful Information for Transportation Agencies
This Federal Highway Administration report can help decision makers begin to address the challenges posed by climate change by providing regional information on climate change and the range of future changes.

Potential Impacts of Climate Change on U.S. Transportation (PDF)
The 2008 report by the Transportation Research Board focuses on the consequences of climate change for transportation infrastructure and operations in the U.S. and offers recommendations for both research and actions that can be taken in preparation for climate change.

Summary Report - MPO Peer Workshop On Planning For Climate Change, March 2008
In March of 2008, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) held a MPO Peer Workshop on planning for climate change.  This report summarizes the remarks, presentations, and discussions that occurred at this workshop.

Climate Change Activities at the Transportation Research Board
The Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Research Council maintains this website, which presents information about TRB activities and products addressing transportation and climate change.

Strategies for Reducing the Impacts of Surface Transportation on Global Climate Change: A Synthesis of Policy Research and State and Local Mitigation Strategies (PDF) Literature Review (PDF)
This study, prepared for the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, examines the challenges and implications that climate change poses for surface transportation and for state DOTs, and outlines the strategies that the transportation sector will need to undertake to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  The report also addresses current state, local, regional, and international climate action plans.  An associated literature review is also included.

Climate-Change Policy and CO2 Emissions from Passenger Vehicles
This Congressional Budget Office issue brief examines the role of passenger vehicles (cars and light trucks) in the U.S. effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions. In particular, the brief looks at how putting a price on CO₂ emissions—for example, through a cap-and-trade system—would affect gasoline prices and, as a consequence, vehicle emissions.

Washington State DOT Climate Change Site
The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) Climate Change website describes the steps WSDOT is taking to address climate change and includes tools, resources, and reports related to climate change.

Primer on Transportation and Climate Change
Sections I, II, III (large PDF)
Sections IV, V (large PDF)
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) has prepared this primer on transportation and climate change as an introduction to the issue of climate change and its implications for transportation policy in the United States.  The primer summarizes the current state of scientific knowledge concerning the causes and impacts of climate change, outlines climate change policy issues, discusses trends and reviews potential measures in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from road transportation, and identifies issues for further research.

The Economic Impacts of Climate Change and the Costs of Inaction
This website contains several studies from the University of Maryland’s Center for Integrative Environmental Research that look at the economic impacts of climate change, including a study of the entire U.S. and studies that focus on individual states.

Global Climate Change: Trends, Targets, and Rural Transportation Issues (PDF)
Cynthia Burbank, National Planning and Environment Practice Leader at Parsons Brinckerhoff, delivered this presentation at the 2008 National Rural Transportation Conference.  Her presentation outlines the impacts of climate change and the role of the transportation sector in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  The presentation discusses statewide climate change action plans, climate change adaptation, and rural transportation issues.

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