Stakeholder Engagement to Better Understand Climate Information Needs

A 2011 study by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) indicates that the annual economic impact of routine weather on the U.S. economy could be as much as $485 billion. If such a strong linkage between routine weather changes and the economy exist, how can U.S. business and the economy as a whole, be better prepared for weather and climate changes that may take place in the future? How can NOAA provide improved information products for U.S. business, thus protecting and growing the economy? What are the opportunities for the U.S. private sector in developing and delivering these long-term forecasting products?

Stakeholder Engagement to Better Understand Climate Information Needs is a project funded by NOAA via the Cooperative Institute for Climate & Satellites – North Carolina (CICS-NC) to examine climate–or long-term forecasting–information needs of the U.S. private sector, key to ensure business and economic security.

This project focuses on implementing the following tasks:

• Examining mechanisms and models for private sector engagement through public-private partnerships;
• Convening an executive roundtable of business, government, and non-governmental leaders to define the U.S. Climate Enterprise and assess long-term forecasting needs; and
• Convening a workshop to further define the information needs of the plant sector, a follow up to the 2008 A Growing Interest workshop.