Summary/Abstract
The Vermont Climate Assessment (VCA) provides a framework for understanding climate change impacts in Vermont. It is written to help citizens and decision-makers make sense of climate data and prepare for future impacts across key sectors (for example, the Vermont Climate Council, which is working to reduce the state’s GHG emissions and identify actions Vermont communities can take to better prepare for more extreme weather). The VCA 2021 updates the University of Vermont’s pioneering state climate assessment in 2014, which was the first to provide state-level data similar to the National Climate Assessment.
The VCA 2021 included a process to engage key stakeholders from the beginning of the assessment. Understanding stakeholder interests enabled the VCA team to focus on relevant, useful research. Researcher Laura Edling led a needs assessment in 2020 to:
- Understand what VCA information would be most useful and why;
- Facilitate ongoing knowledge exchange among VCA researchers and a variety of stakeholders; and
- Identify diverse sources of knowledge that are relevant to climate research and decision-making.
Many stakeholders were interested in impacts related to precipitation, storms, and flooding. For example, stakeholders in the agriculture sector expressed a desire to know “will my field flood” and requested data that could help them plan infrastructure upgrades and drainage strategies. The VCA 2021 report aims to further local understanding of climate change and its impacts and provide climate information that is used and useful.