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The social sciences in climate assessments in the United States

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Abstract

This article looks at the inclusion of the social sciences in recent climate assessment reports from national and sub-national jurisdictions (state, territory, district) of the United States. It compares and contrasts interdisciplinary integration based on three criteria: inclusion of societal topics; the use of social science frameworks, theory, and literature to interpret findings; and processes of knowledge production. National and sub-national climate assessments serve different societal purposes and decision-making goals, and are produced in distinct knowledge governance contexts. While climate focused social sciences are increasingly incorporated into assessments, the nature of this incorporation varies across assessment types. The greatest advancements for interdisciplinary integration in the Fifth National Climate Assessment are in the robust treatment of economics, equity and environmental justice, and social systems and the addition of core concepts to the climate lexicon. In sub-national assessments, alternative organizational formats open up space to examine climate-society interactions for sectoral or geographic topics of interest. However, their analysis often is limited to vulnerability mapping and dollar values instead of the broader social and economic systems that shape climate drivers, hazards, impacts, and responses. Most social sciences are present in climate impacts chapters. There is opportunity to engage additional social science in analysis of climate hazards, drivers of climate change, mitigation and adaptation efforts, and the underlying social causes of vulnerability. Better integration of the social and biogeophysical sciences can help assessments expand the language of climate response and universe of potential interventions, enabling them to inform decision-making at national to local scales.

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Data availability

A list of included climate assessments with citation information is available in the supplementary information (Online Resource 1). A spreadsheet with assessment metadata is available in the supplementary information (Online Resource 2) and at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ScienceHub.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank reviewers whose thoughtful insights improved this manuscript: Andy Miller, Abigail Sullivan, Joan Bursey, Terra Haxton, Lance Brooks, Allyza Lustig, Michael Méndez, Cynthia Golembeski, Sameer Shah, Allison Crimmins, and three anonymous journal reviewers. Ilana Herold and Amrutha Elamparuthy provided information on Fourth and Fifth National Climate Assessment citations from the Global Change Information System.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, USA

    Keely B. Maxwell & Emily Eisenhauer

  2. Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Oak Ridge, TN, USA

    Maureen Shacklette

  3. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Washington, DC, USA

    Austin A. Scheetz

  4. Oregon State University- Cascades, Bend, OR, USA

    Elizabeth Marino

  5. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Silver Spring, MD, USA

    Ariela Zycherman

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  1. Keely B. Maxwell
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Correspondence to Austin A. Scheetz.

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The authors have no relevant financial interests to disclose. Authors 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6 contributed to the publication of the Fifth National Climate Assessment in different roles.

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Maxwell, K.B., Shacklette, M., Eisenhauer, E. et al. The social sciences in climate assessments in the United States. Climatic Change 178, 91 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-025-03906-7

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