The U.S. Climate Change Science Program:
Vision for the Program and
Highlights of the Scientific Strategic Plan
Report released 24 July 2003

 Also available: PDF Version of entire document  (6.7 Mb)

See also:
Full Strategic Plan (364 pages)

The CCSP Strategic Plan responds to the President's direction that climate change research activities be accelerated to provide the best possible scientific information needed for climate-related decisions. The plan reflects a commitment to high quality science, which requires openness to review and critique by the wider scientific and stakeholder communities. The process by which the Plan was drafted incorporates the transparency essential for scientific credibility.

The Administration released the CCSP Discussion Draft Strategic Plan for public review in November 2002. The discussion draft built upon the significant investments already made in climate change science, and was guided by the priority information needs identified by scientists and stakeholders (i.e., individuals or groups whose interests -- financial, cultural, value-based, or other -- are affected by climate variability, climate change, or options for adapting to or mitigating these phenomena), both nationally and internationally. It outlined a comprehensive, collaborative approach for developing a more accurate understanding of climate change and its potential impacts.

External comments played an important role in revising the initial draft of the plan. A Climate Change Science Program Workshop held in December 2002 in Washington, DC, was attended by 1,300 scientists and other participants, including individuals from 47 states and 36 nations. The workshop was designed to facilitate extensive discussion and comments on the draft plan from all interested domestic and international groups and individuals, including the scientific community, stakeholders, non-governmental organizations, interested members of the public, and the media.

Written comments on the Discussion Draft Strategic Plan were submitted during a public review period. When collated, these comments amounted to nearly 900 pages of input from hundreds of scientists, representatives of interest groups, and interested members of the lay public.

In addition, a special committee of the National Academy of Sciences' National Research Council reviewed the plan at the request of the CCSP. The special 17-member review committee included experts in the physical, biological, social, and economic sciences. In February 2003, this committee reported its recommendations, which have provided invaluable assistance in the revision of the draft plan. The NRC committee will provide a second public report in late 2003, expressing the committee's conclusions and recommendations on the content, objectivity, quality, and comprehensiveness of the updated Strategic Plan, on the open process used to produce it, and on the proposed process for developing subsequent findings to be reported by the CCSP.

The CCSP Strategic Plan is being published after consideration of all of the workshop discussions, the full range of written public review comments received by January 2003, and the NRC review of the discussion draft plan, as well as an extensive internal U.S. Government review process.

The plan will guide the conduct of research activities sponsored or conducted by the U.S. Government. It will be modified as warranted by the emergence of key findings and important new public questions.

After the release of the Strategic Plan, the CCSP will serve in a "credible fact finder" capacity -- providing a source of reliable and useful information to support decisions on global climate change issues. It will focus on developing synthesis and assessment reports on climate science findings. Future reports will address the principal foci of the Strategic Plan, which are (a) reducing key scientific uncertainties, (b) designing and implementing a comprehensive global climate and ecosystem monitoring and data management system, and (c) providing information (from a range of scenarios and response options) that supports public evaluation of climate change response options.