Climate Assessment of US Endangered Species Improves, Actions Still Lag

Abstract

We updated previous research on inclusion of climate change in listing and conservation planning for animals listed as endangered under the US Endangered Species Act, to include documents published through 2022. Inclusion of climate change as a threat has improved from 64% to 85% and action planning more than doubled, from 18% to 38%. Despite improvement, the majority of our most imperiled species still lack climate adaptation actions.