Climate Change and Social Vulnerability in the United States: A Focus on Six Impacts
2021
This report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seeks to better understand how socially vulnerable groups in the United States may be more exposed to the impacts of climate change. The socially vulnerable groups are defined based on income, educational attainment, race and ethnicity, and age. The report examines climate change across six categories: Air Quality and Health; Extreme Temperature and Health; Extreme Temperature and Labor; Coastal Flooding and Traffic; Coastal Flooding and Property; and Inland Flooding and Property. Black and African American individuals are 40% more likely to live in areas with the highest projected increases in mortality from climate-driven changes in extreme temperature. Further, this population group is 34% more likely to live in areas with the highest projected increases in childhood asthma diagnoses due to climate-driven changes in particulate air pollution. Each chapter of the report focuses on different aspects of climate change impacts on vulnerable groups, with the final two chapters outlining national and regional results.
Climate Change and Social Vulnerability in the United States: A Focus on Six Impacts
Source:
Climate Change and Social Vulnerability in the United States: A Focus on Six Impacts. Environmental Protection Agency 2021. https://www.epa.gov/cira/social-vulnerability-report.