What Is the Assessment?

The New York State Climate Impacts Assessment is an investigation into how climate change is affecting New York State’s communities, ecosystems, and economy. It describes how climate change impacts are likely to change in the decades ahead and shares information on adaptation and resilience.

The peer-reviewed technical report is backed by the latest science, data, and models. This assessment updates the 2011 New York State climate assessment effort (ClimAID) and was developed with input from more stakeholders and decision-makers so that its information is relevant, accessible, and useable for New York State’s diverse communities. An overview of how the assessment was developed can be found in the Assessment Introduction.

Climate Change in New York State

New York State’s climate is changing. Rising temperatures, increased precipitation, rising sea levels, and more frequent and extreme weather events are happening now and projected to worsen. These impacts pose unique risks to every one of New York State’s economic sectors, industries, natural systems, communities, and regions. In addition, while all communities feel the impacts of climate change, some people—particularly Indigenous Peoples and members of historically marginalized racial and ethnic groups—face greater burdens and disproportionate impacts.

• Learn more about projections of future climate change in New York State.
• Learn more about climate equity and justice.

What Is the Assessment’s Scope?

This assessment focuses primarily on impacts of climate change in New York State. It presents and evaluates historical observations and future projections of:

• Climate hazards—the physical manifestations of climate change, such as changes in temperature, precipitation, extreme weather events, and sea level.
• Climate impacts—how climate hazards affect ecosystems, natural resources, infrastructure (i.e., the built environment), human health and well-being, communities, and the economy.

In addition to detailing the climate impacts New York State is already experiencing and may experience in the future, the assessment also presents information about strategies for adaptation and resilience—how we can prepare for the impacts of climate change.

What Does the Assessment Include? 

The assessment contains:

• Up-to-date projections of future climate conditions in New York State.
• Sector-specific assessments of climate impacts based on literature reviews. 
• Adaptation strategies and case studies.
• Links and references to primary sources for full transparency.
• Communication and outreach materials to present information from the assessment.

Why Is the Impacts Assessment Important?

The assessment provides information about what to expect from climate change across New York State. Rising temperatures, increased precipitation, rising sea levels, and more frequent and extreme weather events are happening now and projected to worsen. Even if local and global efforts succeed at reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that are the primary cause of climate change, some amount of further climate change has already been set in motion. It is therefore critical to understand and prepare for the impacts of climate change.

Although the risks from climate change are increasing, New York State has the capacity to adapt. The more we understand the impacts of climate change, the better we can prepare. Furthering our understanding of future climate impacts can help inform action to ensure the health, safety, and resilience of our communities, especially those most affected by climate change.

Who Will Use It? 

The assessment was developed by and for New York State’s residents, businesses, public sector leaders, academic experts, advocates, nonprofit organizations, and decision-makers of all kinds. The goal of the assessment is to provide the science and information that will allow people to make informed choices about their future. The assessment will help them:

• Understand how climate change might affect the state.
• Take action to deal with existing impacts.
• Plan and prepare for future impacts.

Equity and justice considerations are built into the framework of the assessment, so that its results are accessible to and can be used by all communities, and it can provide decision-makers with knowledge to better address inequity.

How Does This Assessment Relate to Other Climate Actions and Policies in New York State? 

New York State’s Community Risk and Resiliency Act (CRRA), signed in 2014, required certain planning, permitting, and funding processes statewide to incorporate climate change considerations. For example, applicants for certain permitting and funding programs must consider the impacts of extreme weather, sea level rise, storm surge, and flooding. The law also called for development of model climate change adaptation zoning laws and a standard set of sea level rise projections. This assessment provides updated climate information that programs, planners, and others can use to comply with the provisions of the CRRA.

On July 18, 2019, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (Climate Act) was signed into law. New York State’s Climate Act is the among the most ambitious climate laws in the nation, requiring aggressive economy-wide reductions in the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. The law created a Climate Action Council (CAC) charged with developing a scoping plan to meet these targets and place the state on a path toward carbon neutrality. Both the Climate Act and the CAC focus largely—although not entirely—on greenhouse gas reduction.

In contrast to the Climate Act, this climate assessment is not developing or recommending policy, nor is it focused on how to reduce emissions. Rather, its focus is on how the climate is changing (projections), how those changes will affect New York State (impacts), and how New Yorkers can prepare for some impacts that may be uncertain or unavoidable (adaptation and resilience). The assessment provides science and information that will allow decision-makers at all levels—whether local municipalities, state agencies, individual businesses, or landowners—to make informed choices about the future. The information in the assessment may form the scientific foundation for future recommendations or iterations of the Climate Act or other New York State policies and initiatives.