California Climate Action Team 
releases summary report

SACRAMENTO, CA (08/16/06) -- The California Climate Action Team has released a summary report of 17 scientific studies examining the potential impacts of climate change on California.

"The potential impacts of global warming are unmistakable, adding more days of deadly heat, more intense and frequent wildfires, shorter supplies of drinking water and serious public health risks," said Linda Adams, Secretary for Environmental Protection. "That’s why Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger set aggressive goals to reduce greenhouse gases. The actions we take today will impact the climate inherited by our children and grandchildren."

The summary report titled “Our Changing Climate: Assessing the Risks to California” was a collaborative effort of the California Center for Climate Change, the only state-funded climate research center in the nation, a virtual center established by the California Energy Commission. The summary report is a compilation of the science included in the Climate Action Team report that was released in April.

The report warns that as the effects of global warming continue, California’s 1,100 miles of coastline – a major attraction for tourism, recreation and other important economic activities – will face increased threats of rising sea levels, aggravating impacts of coastal storms and runoff from upstream flooding.

"If heat-trapping emissions continue unabated and temperatures rise into the higher warming range, sea level is expected to rise an additional 22 to 35 inches by the end of the century," the report cautions. "Elevations of this magnitude would inundate coastal areas with salt water, accelerate coastal erosion, threaten vital levees and inland water systems and disrupt wetlands and natural habitats."

The report also describes the shrinking state of many of California’s beaches. As sea levels rise, the report warns, increasing volumes of replacement sand will be needed to maintain current beach width and quality.

The report is the first under an executive order signed in June 2005 by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that calls for biennial studies on the potential impact on the state of continued global warming.

The California Climate Action Team was initiated by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last year, and charged with developing suggested strategies to reach the governor’s aggressive greenhouse gas-reduction targets. 

The report is available online.