U.S. Global Change Research Program
The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) is the federal government's main interagency climate and global-environment research coordination system. Congress created it in 1990 to make sure the government's climate, atmospheric, ocean, land-use, and environmental-change research was not just a loose collection of agency projects. The program's job is to coordinate research, planning, budgeting, and periodic scientific assessment so policymakers and the public get a clearer picture of how global change is affecting the United States.
Current Law (2026)
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Core statute | Global Change Research Act of 1990, 15 U.S.C. §§ 2931-2936 |
| Main function | Coordinate federal global change research across agencies |
| Core deliverables | A recurring national research plan and periodic scientific assessments |
| Main agencies involved | NSF, NASA, NOAA, EPA, DOE, USDA, Interior, DOD, DOT, NIH/NIEHS, State, OMB, OSTP, CEQ, and others |
| Assessment cadence in statute | At least every 4 years |
| Current public-facing product | National Climate Assessment and related USGCRP assessment products |
Legal Authority
- 15 U.S.C. § 2931 — Congressional findings and purpose
- 15 U.S.C. § 2932 — Committee on Earth and Environmental Sciences structure
- 15 U.S.C. § 2933 — Establishes the interagency U.S. Global Change Research Program
- 15 U.S.C. § 2934 — Requires a National Global Change Research Plan
- 15 U.S.C. § 2935 — Coordinates budgeting across participating agencies
- 15 U.S.C. § 2936 — Requires periodic scientific assessments
Key Numbers
- USGCRP participating agencies: 14 federal departments and agencies including NASA, NOAA, NSF, DOE, EPA, USDA, USGS, DOD, NIH/NIEHS, DOT, State, and others
- Combined USGCRP investment: approximately $2.5–3 billion/year in coordinated global change research — one of the largest federally coordinated science programs
- National Climate Assessment cadence: NCA1 (2000), NCA2 (2009), NCA3 (2014), NCA4 (2018), NCA5 (2023) — the Fifth Assessment was the most comprehensive, covering all U.S. regions, sectors, and social vulnerability dimensions
- NCA5 key finding: U.S. average temperatures have risen approximately 2–3°F since the early 20th century; extreme heat events are becoming more frequent and severe; sea level on U.S. coastlines has risen 10–12 inches since 1920 and is projected to rise an additional 1–2 feet by 2050 under current trajectories
How It Works
USGCRP is a coordination statute, not a grant program. NOAA, NASA, NSF, EPA, DOE, and ten other agencies each maintain their own research programs and funding lines; what the statute does is force them into common planning cycles and assessment structures so the federal climate-science portfolio produces a coherent picture rather than 14 separate agency views. The program is managed by a small interagency secretariat. The most consequential public product is the National Climate Assessment (NCA) — now five assessments spanning 23 years — which is how federal climate science reaches state governments, the insurance industry, infrastructure planners, and the public. NCA5 (released November 2023) documented that climate change is increasing extreme weather frequency, threatening public health across all U.S. regions, and creating systemic risks to agriculture, coastal communities, energy systems, and water supplies. Its sector-by-sector, region-by-region structure makes it the standard reference for incorporating federal climate science into building codes, infrastructure investment decisions, and investment risk disclosures.
The assessment requirement is legally binding, not discretionary: the statute requires a "periodic" scientific assessment no less frequently than every 4 years, a mandate that has prevented administrations from simply stopping the NCA process even under political pressure. Congress also specified that assessments must analyze effects on "agriculture, energy production and use, land and water resources, transportation, human health and welfare, human social systems, and biological diversity" — meaning USGCRP assessments must address practical sectors, not just atmospheric science. This statutory scope is why NCA5 includes chapters on mental health, supply chains, and environmental justice alongside temperature and precipitation projections, and why the assessment is used by federal agencies to evaluate regulatory impacts under the National Environmental Policy Act.
How It Affects You
<!-- pria:personalize type="impact" -->If you own coastal property: NCA5 provides the federal government's most comprehensive assessment of sea-level rise, storm surge risk, and coastal erosion by region. The projections — up to 2 feet of additional sea-level rise by 2050 under intermediate scenarios — directly affect flood insurance rates (FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program uses these data in risk assessments), mortgage availability in high-risk zones, and resale value. If you own property in coastal Louisiana, South Florida, the Chesapeake Bay region, or Pacific Northwest lowlands, the USGCRP assessments are the scientific foundation for the flood risk numbers that affect your insurance and financing.
If you work in agriculture, water management, or forestry: NCA5's agriculture chapter synthesizes federal projections on drought, heat stress on crops, shifting precipitation patterns, and water supply risks by region. The Great Plains faces increasing drought frequency; the Southwest faces water supply reductions from Colorado River decline; the Southeast faces heat-related agricultural stress. If your livelihood depends on water availability or temperature-sensitive crops, USGCRP's research produces the most authoritative federal view of how those risks are evolving.
If you manage infrastructure or public health systems: NCA5 documents increasing risks from extreme heat (the leading weather-related killer in the U.S., now causing an estimated 1,300+ deaths annually), intensifying hurricanes (Category 4 and 5 storms becoming more common), and expanding wildfire smoke exposure (affecting air quality across western states and increasingly the Midwest). These findings shape what federal grants require for infrastructure resilience and what agencies like CDC prioritize in climate-health programming.
If you follow financial regulation and climate risk: The SEC's climate disclosure rules, the Federal Reserve's bank stress-testing climate scenarios, and Treasury's climate risk assessments all draw on USGCRP science. When the Biden administration directed financial regulators to incorporate climate risk, USGCRP assessments became the authoritative federal scientific source. Investors evaluating physical climate risk disclosures from public companies are, indirectly, relying on USGCRP-coordinated data.
<!-- /pria:personalize -->State Variations
USGCRP is federal, but its effects show up unevenly across states:
- State climate offices and regional planning efforts often use USGCRP assessment products
- States face different mixes of climate risk, so the same federal science can have very different practical importance
- State adaptation planning often depends on federal observations, modeling, and assessment summaries
Implementing Guidance
The program is mainly implemented through interagency planning, budget coordination, assessment processes, and public assessment products rather than a large standalone CFR regime.
Pending Legislation (119th Congress)
No major standalone 119th Congress legislation was prominent as of April 2026 to replace the Global Change Research Act's core coordination structure.
Recent Developments
The Fifth National Climate Assessment, released in November 2023, was the most comprehensive in the series — covering social vulnerability, environmental justice, and systemic risk dimensions that earlier assessments treated more lightly. NCA5 explicitly linked climate risk to financial stability, housing security, and health equity in ways that made it more directly relevant to policy domains beyond environmental regulation.
The Trump administration's second term (beginning January 2025) created significant pressure on USGCRP. Federal websites hosting climate science data — including NOAA's climate portal, EPA's climate indicators, and USGCRP's own assessment materials — were taken offline, modified, or restricted in the first weeks of the administration. Staff reductions at NOAA, EPA, and other USGCRP participating agencies reduced the operational capacity for climate monitoring and research. Scientists at NOAA and NASA issued public statements of concern about the continuity of long-term climate data records — ocean heat content measurements, sea ice extent tracking, hurricane intensity data — that depend on continuous instrumentation and staffing.
The statutory obligation to produce periodic assessments remains on the books, but the timeline for NCA6 (due approximately 2027 under the 4-year cadence) became uncertain given staffing and resource constraints. Congressional Democrats and scientific societies argued that political interference with federal climate data violated the USGCRP statute's mandate to provide scientific assessments for policymakers and the public; the administration disputed this characterization.
NOAA's budget has been particularly contentious. NOAA's climate research programs — including the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), which maintains the authoritative historical climate data record — faced proposed cuts of 20–25% in the FY2026 budget. NCEI houses more than 50 petabytes of climate, weather, and ocean data; losing continuity in these archives would affect not just USGCRP assessments but also private-sector climate risk products that build on federal data.