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In this final paper, the guest editors identify and discuss ten guidelines emerging from the papers in this Special Issue on Decision-Support Tools for Climate Change Adaptation. The guidelines are arranged under three headings: foundational, design and construction, and supporting sustainability in the long term. Under foundational, we address the need for cooperation with end users of decision-support resources, the contribution these resources can make to the formation of thriving communities of practice, and the match between the different types of decision support and user needs. Under design and construction, we point to the risk that policy settings will change over the multiple years required to build and publish complex decision-support resources, reducing the relevance of the final product. We discuss the need for innovative approaches to ensure visibility, credibility and hence uptake. Developers should be mindful of the requirements, resources and capabilities of potential users at all points in the design and build. We also suggest that decision-support resources may be transferable between sectors and locations, but the motivation should be around achieving excellence, and not just cost savings. Under supporting sustainability in the long term, we stress the need for evaluation and comparative studies of performance, leading to carefully documented updating and improvement of decision-support resources. Finally, in the conclusions, we look to the future. Can decision-support resources evolve successfully to meet the information and guidance requirements of the increasingly sophisticated adaptation practitioner community?

The goal of the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit’s (CRT) Climate Explorer (CE) is to provide information at appropriate spatial and temporal scales to help practitioners gain insights into the risks posed by climate change. Ultimately, these insights can lead to groups of local stakeholders taking action to build their resilience to a changing climate. Using CE, decision-makers can visualize decade-by-decade changes in climate conditions in their county and the magnitude of changes projected for the end of this century under two plausible emissions pathways. They can also check how projected changes relate to user-defined thresholds that represent points at which valued assets may become stressed, damaged, or destroyed. By providing easy access to authoritative information in an elegant interface, the Climate Explorer can help communities recognize—and prepare to avoid or respond to—emerging climate hazards. Another important step in the evolution of CE builds on the purposeful alignment of the CRT with the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s (USGCRP) National Climate Assessment (NCA). By closely linking these two authoritative resources, we envision that users can easily transition from static maps and graphs within NCA reports to dynamic, interactive versions of the same data within CE and other resources within the CRT, which they can explore at higher spatial scales or customize for their own purposes. The provision of consistent climate data and information—a result of collaboration among USGCRP’s federal agencies—will assist decision-making by other governmental entities, nongovernmental organizations, businesses, and individuals.

he burgeoning interest in climate information extends to many uses. For example, financial firms use climate information about extreme events to inform investment strategies, and consulting firms now model climate risk or link municipal bond ratings to exposures to climate-related hazards.Decision-makers utilizing both observed and projected climate data need a brokered connection to authoritative and carefully vetted information so they can comply with legal mandates and execute smart decisions. The Climate Explorer (CE), an integral part of the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit (CRT), can help by offering the best available climate projections in an intuitive presentation that supports a wide range of decisions.Responding to increased demand for climate data and information, the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) efforts have shifted over the past decade from documenting impacts to informing and supporting decisions. The CRT was initiated in 2015 under the auspices of the USGCRP and hosted by NOAA to help people determine whether valued assets are at risk from climate-related hazards, and if so, how they can build resilience. The CRT builds on the Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4), linking its authoritative results and core datasets so that governmental entities, nongovernmental organizations, businesses, and individuals can make better decisions using publicly funded, well-vetted climate science within a consistent framework.An open-source, web-based mapping and graphing tool that delivers visualizations and raw data as well as presentation-ready graphics, the CE aims to bridge multiple disciplines, economic sectors, research, and applications by bringing current climate science to the desktops of decision-makers. It comprises several