Yesterday, The New York Times published a draft report from the not-yet-released National Climate Assessment (NCA). The assessment is an inter-agency product of the federal government and is published every four years. Heritage’s energy and climate expert Nick Loris had the following to say about the report:
 
“Looking at climate change’s effects at the regional level and using historical data can be a useful exercise and helps us understand how the climate is changing and why. What is not helpful, is blaming everything on human-caused warming and using climate models that have been wildly off-target to make dire predictions about future warming and extreme weather events. Trends in the actual climate data are not all that scary and the failure of models to accurately depict reality should be cause for concern for fearmongering predictions.
 
“Furthermore, objective, transparent science should be an important tool to guide public policy. Independent efforts to more accurately determine the severity of climate change would better inform policymakers so that they can take any necessary actions that are cost-effective, verifiable, and effectual.
 
“No matter what you do or do not believe about the accuracy of the report, climate policies are a non-solution. Any type of carbon tax, cap and trade, or other combination of carbon regulations such as the regulations on new power plants and existing ones (Clean Power Plan) will only kill jobs and cut income for Americans across all income levels, all without having any meaningful impact on global temperatures, now or in the future.”