Climate Impacts Group

The University of Washington Climate Impacts Group builds climate resilience by advancing understanding of climate risks and enabling science-based action to manage those risks.

We are widely recognized for scientific discovery, as an experienced creator of impartial and actionable science on identifying and managing climate risks, and as a catalyst and supporter of regional efforts to build climate resilience.

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The Climate Impacts Group is an interdisciplinary research group at the University of Washington composed of natural, physical and social scientists as well as communications and administrative professionals. We are a member organization of EarthLab.

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The UW Climate Impacts Group hosts two federally-funded climate adaptation programs – the Northwest Climate Adaptation Center, funded by the Department of the Interior, and the Northwest Climate Resilience Collaborative, funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. The Climate Impacts Group also hosts the Office of the Washington State Climatologist and acts as a hub for scientific and technical support for climate resilience in Washington State.

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The Climate Impacts Group helps people across the Northwest understand how the effects of climate change — including rising air temperatures, decreasing snowfall, rising sea levels and drier summers — stand to affect life in our region. We focus on co-producing knowledge that is both useful and used to help our region prepare for, and better cope with, the effects of a changing climate.

We support planners, natural resource managers, engineers, policymakers and community members across the region as they use science to build climate resilience. Our partners work in a variety of sectors and contexts, including government agencies, non-profit organizations and community groups.

Our work is supported by organizational- and project-based gifts, grants and contracts from federal, state and local sources, private philanthropy and the state of Washington.

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We recognize that the impacts of climate change will not be distributed equally, due to unjust social, political and economic processes that have marginalized frontline communities for generations. Frontline communities – which include Black communities, Tribes and Indigenous peoples, other communities of color, those most dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods and people with lower incomes – are more likely to experience climate change impacts first and worst. They are more likely to live and work in areas at increased risk to climate stressors such as heat, flooding and fires, and are more likely to experience issues that are worsened by climate impacts such as food insecurity and health and economic disparities.

At the same time, frontline communities have practices and strategies for building climate resilience based on diverse knowledge and lived experience. The leadership and creativity of frontline communities is necessary for building a climate-resilient future for all people.

The Climate Impacts Group commits to prioritizing inclusion and justice for all people in our work on climate adaptation, with the aim of mitigating oppression in our organization, our field and our communities. Frontline communities are centered in climate adaptation work at the Northwest Climate Resilience Collaborative, one of the Climate Impacts Group’s major programs.