The Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) furthers the climate change catastrophe narrative through its use of outdated and extreme CO2 emissions forecasts and its unsubstantiated predictions of widespread environmental and economic damage.

Key Points

  • The Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) is not an unbiased assessment of climate science. It largely follows the climate change catastrophe narrative that advocates for reducing CO2 emissions as quickly as possible.
  • NCA4 relies heavily on an outdated and extreme emissions scenario, RCP8.5, to create unrealistic predictions of widespread environmental and economic damage from rising temperatures.
  • NCA4 fails to adequately justify the level of confidence that it ascribes to most of its predictions and makes only passing references to many of the uncertainties highlighted in its underlying studies.
  • The next National Climate Assessment should be subject to review by scientists willing to argue against its main conclusions, with alternative viewpoints noted in the final document.
  • Recent history contradicts the pessimistic predictions of NCA4. Climate resiliency and quality of life have improved dramatically for most of humanity as energy consumption and temperatures have risen over the past century.