Our Changing Climate 2012; Vulnerability & Adaptation to the Increasing Risks from Climate Change. A Summary Report on the Third Assessment from the California Climate Change Center in California

Executive Order #S-3-05, signed on June 1, 2005, called for the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) to prepare periodic science reports on the potential impacts of climate change on the California economy. Cal/EPA entrusted the California Energy Commission and its Climate Change Center to lead this effort. The 2009 Adaptation Strategy prepared by the California Natural Resources Agency also called for a statewide vulnerability and adaptation study. This report summarizes the third of these periodic assessments, the product of a multi-institution collaboration among Cal/EPA, Natural Resources Agency, Department of Water Resources, Energy Commission, Air Resources Board, Ocean Protection Council, Department of Public Health, Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Bay Conservation and Development Commission, Department of Transportation, Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, State Coastal Conservancy, Department of Fish and Game, Department of Food and Agriculture, and State Parks. It keeps Californians apprised of new scientific developments, documents the emerging impacts of climate change, and alerts them to the increasing risks of a warming climate. Clear awareness of these risks is an important prerequisite for Californians to fully engage in efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and to prepare and plan for those impacts that cannot be avoided by emission reduction efforts.