On Tuesday, November 28, the White House released a coordinated national strategy, “The National Strategy to Advance an Integrated U.S. Greenhouse Gas Measurement, Monitoring and Information Service” (or GHGMMIS), to measure, monitor, and share greenhouse gas information. The new strategy aims to enhance greenhouse gas (GHG) data and information to accelerate progress towards President Biden’s emissions reduction goals and inform mitigation efforts. The plan builds on a body of work across NOAA Research laboratories as well as NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS), augmented by GHG research and engagement efforts supported by the Climate Program Office (CPO).
A number of CPO’s GHG past and current priorities support the National Strategy. CPO’s Atmospheric Chemistry, Carbon Cycle and Climate (AC4) Program has supported over thirty projects since 2013 that contribute to the science of each of the five objectives laid out in the National Strategy. For example, recent AC4-funded projects have studied emissions impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as urban emissions. These projects align and support the National Strategy’s objectives of improving activity- and atmospheric-based GHG estimation methods and moving toward a convergent approach. This research involves and complements initiatives at NOAA labs while bringing in expertise from the external science community. In addition, CPO’s Communication, Education, and Engagement (CEE) Division will support the effort by developing a GHG-focused index page on Climate.gov that offers easy public access to timely data, information, and plain-language explainers.
CPO’s capability to convene partners and stakeholders will offer crucial support to the implementation of the framework outlined in the National Strategy. For example, in June 2023, CPO together with the NOAA Global Monitoring Lab and the Air Research Laboratory organized the NOAA Greenhouse Gas Workshop focused on measurements, monitoring, reporting, and verification. The workshop was successful in convening NOAA’s GHG scientists and managers and paved the way for future collaborations. More broadly, CPO routinely collaborates on GHG science with agency groups as well as external partners from universities and other research institutions. For instance, CPO provides leadership for science, assessment, and educational activities in collaboration with the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), which brings together 14 federal agencies. All these collaborations strengthen the quality of GHG science and information sharing and are crucial to the whole-of-government effort in the National Strategy.
CPO’s work improves NOAA’s GHG monitoring and information service capabilities as part of building a Climate-Ready Nation to inform climate mitigation efforts. CPO will actively support the implementation of the new National Strategy.
