The current draft of the Bush administration’s U.S. Fourth Climate Action Report (CAR) has a chapter on climate change impacts that fails to engage in an adequate substantive discussion of the current state of knowledge on that subject. As an indicator of the shortcomings of the administration’s chapter, compare it with the North America chapter of the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group II assessment report on Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. We are posting our copy of the final review draft of the IPCC North America chapter because we believe U.S. reviewers of the CAR should have it as a reference during the State Department’s too-brief public comment period. Note the climate change impacts on North America identified in the IPCC report that are omitted, or barely touched upon, in the CAR. [Editor’s Note: See also the 30 July 2007 posting, Bush Administration submits evasive Climate Action Report to the UN.]
See our earlier posts on May 6 and May 7 for additional information about the review of the draft U.S. Fourth Climate Action Report.