The Federal government should establish a multiagency National Climate Service to provide demand-driven and usable climate information, guidance, and other technical resources to end users across sectors, regions, and political jurisdictions. Because of its long track record providing climate information and significant institutional capacity, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is an appropriate federal agency to coordinate and provide administrative support for an interagency National Climate Service.

While NOAA could provide overall coordination of the National Climate Service and take the lead in climate observations, data analysis, and forecasts, a critical role must be played by other agencies in ensuring sector-specific and end-user needs are identified and met. The National Climate Service should draw on the existing expertise and user networks developed by other agencies in specific sectors (e.g., USGS through its water and biological monitoring systems and the Department of Agriculture through the Cooperative Extension System). Agencies with existing expertise, extension program managers and extension agents in the field, and user networks should be given a leadership role for their sectors, with significant authority and autonomy. Each of these sector working groups could take the lead in defining and prioritizing sector-specific information and service needs and involve non-federal stakeholders in the process. Furthermore, the working groups could produce reports identifying best practices. To support the National Climate Service, these working groups should include stakeholders outside the federal government, including the private sector, states, municipalities, nongovernmental organizations, expert citizens, and others.

Beyond providing the best information available on climate change at a scale and in a format useful for decision-making, the National Climate Service should also provide technical support, assessment tools, decision-making support, and accommodate other decision-maker needs to support cost-effective actions to reduce climate vulnerability. The provision of information and support should be made available in a manner that is accessible and timely for users. This will require that the National Climate Service ensures that information and technical support is demand-driven, i.e., that it engages in robust two-way communication with end users. It will also require a particular emphasis on the “customer” and creative outreach, marketing, education, and communication strategies.

All levels of government, the private sector, and other stakeholders need information on climate change impacts on a time and geographic scale useful to them, as well as decision tools to aid in analyzing adaptation options. A National Climate Service would provide demand-driven and usable climate information, guidance, and other technical resources to end users across sectors, regions, and political jurisdictions.