Advancing Climate Services Across The Federal Family

Dr. Julian Reyes joins us to talk about climate services at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Julian shares how his work involves uplifting climate services across the entire federal family and finding synergies across federal agencies to maximize benefits to society. Note: at the time of this recording, Dr. Julian Reyes held the position of Assistant Director for Climate Services at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; he has since moved on to a new position with a different employer.

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Transcript

Emile: Welcome to Come Rain or Shine, podcast of the USDA Southwest Climate Hub 

Sarah: and the DOI Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center for Southwest CASC, operated by the USGS. I'm Sarah LeRoy, Research Coordinator for the Southwest CASC. 

Emile: And I'm Emile Elias, Director of the Southwest Climate Hub. Here we highlight stories to share the most recent advances in climate science, weather, and climate adaptation and innovative practices to support resilient landscapes and communities.

Sarah: We believe that sharing some of the most innovative, forward thinking, and creative climate science and adaptation will strengthen our collective ability to respond to even the most challenging impacts of climate change in one of the hottest and driest regions of the world.

The contents of this podcast are for informational purposes only and should not be interpreted as endorsement for any of the products, technologies, or strategies discussed. 

Emile: Today we're interviewing Dr. Julian Reyes. Julian was the first fellow that we hired at the USDA Southwest Climate Hub into our flagship Fellows program in 2016.

Since then, he's gone on to serve as the Deputy Director for Services at the U. S. Global Change Research Program. He was also the National Coordinator for the USDA Climate Hubs Program. He also serves as Assistant Director for Climate Services at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where he's detailed from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Climate Hubs Program. Today we focus on his work related to climate services. Julian, thanks so much for joining us. 

Julian: Thank you for having me. 

Emile: So I've known you since you joined our team in 2016, and it's really been gratifying to watch your trajectory from before you had your doctorate to your current role.

And so can you tell us a little bit about your most recent position as the Assistant Director for Climate Services. What do you do, and what do you enjoy about the role? 

Julian: Yeah, great questions, Emile, and so first off, you know, I wouldn't be here, you know, without your excellent mentorship and also all the opportunities afforded to me through the Fellows program with the Southwest Climate Hub and USDA, so thank you for the opportunities and allowing me to be who I am today.

So to back up a bit, let me explain what the White House Office of Science Technology Policy or OSTP does. The mission of OSTP is to maximize the benefits of science and technology to advance health, prosperity, security, environmental quality, and justice for all Americans. We advise the President and the White House senior staff on key issues related to science and technology and coordinate federal government technology policy and priorities.

Specifically, the Climate and Environment team here at OSTP is committed to providing clear, useful, and usable science to inform administration, climate, environment, and nature policies, coordinating relevant science and policy processes, and collaborating with partners, as well as connecting with stakeholders outside of government.

In my role as Assistant Director for Climate Services, we're advancing a whole of government framework on climate services, so a no wrong door approach to climate data, tools, information, and decision support, ultimately to reduce the burden on users, stakeholders, and decision makers to find access and use such resources.

My job is really to lift all boats and be a champion for all agencies and represent the breadth and depth of climate services across the entire federal family, and it's really been amazing to learn so much about what exists across the federal family. Part of my job is to also listen and learn from all federal stakeholders and find areas of consensus as part of this coordination effort.

Along with my team here, we look for areas for collaboration to reduce duplication of effort and really find synergies across federal agencies to maximize benefits to society, as I mentioned, as part of OSTP's mission. And what I really love about my job is being able to advance this huge vision of useful, usable, and used climate services.

It keeps me up at night with a lot of the work we have to get done, but it really keeps me, keeps me up because it's exciting work. 

Emile: Great, excellent. So a few questions based on what you just said, but I'll go with just focusing on climate services. So let's just take a step back. Can you define climate services for our audience? Is there a standard definition? 

Julian: Great question. So based on the 5th National Climate Assessment, climate services are defined as scientifically based, usable information, products, and activities that enhance the knowledge and understanding about the impacts of climate change on potential decisions and actions.

With this definition, climate services can be viewed broadly as an ecosystem of climate data, tools, information, and technical assistance that are used to inform adaptation, mitigation, and resilience. You know, our vision is to create an integrated federal ecosystem of products, tools, and people that's accessible to decision makers, businesses, and frontline communities facing the impacts of climate change.

We want these stakeholders to have the seamless access to the full suite of federal knowledge and tools to help inform decisions related to adaptation, mitigation, and building resilience. 

Emile: So I think this might relate to what you mentioned as a no wrong door approach, but can you expand on that a little bit for us?

Julian: Yeah. So by no wrong door approach, we mean that federal agencies should be able to provide seamless assistance to our stakeholders. For example, should a farmer or rancher from Arizona go to USDA for disaster assistance from the Farm Service Agency and need information on housing and urban development.

Um, it should not be on the user to go knocking on HUD store, for example. It should be on the federal government to do a better job to help connect that stakeholder to the right folks within the federal government. Um, for that reason, it's so exciting for us to be able to partner across such breadth and depth of federal climate services.

So we're bringing in the General Services Administration, or GSA, in our work. I mentioned housing and urban development. FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and they have a lot of great resources on disasters and climate impacts, and so I think that the more we can do within the federal family to reduce confusion and duplication of efforts so that our stakeholders don't have to go knocking on multiple doors. I think we save them a lot of time and money and really, uh, provide maximum benefits for what we have to offer them.

Emile: Yeah, that's great. I really appreciate that, having people come to me, out here in the field at times and, you know, maybe asking for things that I know USDA doesn't provide, but I know someone else does. It's, um, really appreciate that. So I'm glad I asked the question because I better understand the approach.

Thanks, Julian. Yeah, so you recently were one of many contributors to a federal framework and action plan for climate services of the National Science and Technology Council, and that report outlines some opportunities for climate services. So can you talk about some of those opportunities? 

Julian: Definitely. So the Federal Framework and Action Plan for Climate Services was published by the National Science and Technology Council, or NSCC, in March of 2023. And it presents a whole of government framework to advance more effective and equitable climate services through interagency coordination. It presents opportunities around four general themes.

The first is around user engagement and partnerships, a second is on governance, a third is on common infrastructure, and a fourth is on capacity building. On user engagement and partnerships, there's an opportunity of launching a climate services forum to bring together federal and non federal producers and users of climate data and tools.

We actually held the first one in November of 2023, hearing from our non federal partners on how to better coordinate on climate services, especially for state, local, tribal, and territorial partners. Another opportunity is building a shared understanding of how federal agencies use or do knowledge co production by bringing together the different ways federal agencies do co production or co creation or co design methods.

We aim to reflect the diversity of missions and expertise among the federal family, but also provide a roadmap for others who may be interested in such work. Another opportunity is facilitating robust interagency coordination of climate services through the U. S. Global Change Research Program. This helps to institutionalize our efforts on climate services and really move from an ad hoc opportunistic approach to one that is strategic, planned, and coordinated, again, for the benefit of all users.

A third theme discusses development of common infrastructure and processes for the development and delivery of climate services, including common platforms and system architectures for data and tools. Again, that no wrong door approach, but on the technical side. And that could also include an inventory of climate service data products and tools.

Sarah: Thanks, Julian, and thanks for joining us. And before my question I just wanted to comment I've heard you say federal family a few times and I just love that term and I haven't heard it before, and I'm going to start using it now, too, because that's, like the notion that it brings with it, so.

Thinking back on this report, you just outlined some opportunities around climate services, but this report also highlights challenges for climate services, and so could you expand on those? And maybe, where possible, suggest some solutions that you think have some promise. 

Julian: Yeah, thanks, Sarah. You know, we're really in a moment with unprecedented suite of actionable climate services, climate data, tools, information, and technical assistance.

Thinking about the National Climate Assessment, including its ATLAS, the Climate Mapping for Resilience and Adaptation Portal, and a slew of agency specific tools and portals. We also have administration support that guides our work towards more useful, usable, and used climate information services. Yeah, we understand the demand for climate services far outweighs supply, both within and outside the federal government, and yet the pace of climate change and its impacts are accelerating much faster than our own ability to develop and deliver climate services to all.

So as I mentioned, part of what we're doing is elevating climate services from an ad hoc, opportunistic activity to a more deliberate, strategic, and planned enterprise that's coordinated within and across the federal family. Moreover, we know this enhanced coordination will meet the needs of the nation.

I mentioned reducing burden upon users, including the federal government itself, to discover relevant climate data and products, and also reduce duplication of efforts. So one, one potential solution is enhanced coordination. That is something we've actually achieved in my whole, in my year at OSTP.

Another challenge is recognizing both producers and users of climate services and understanding that end users, decision makers, and communities help drive a dynamic feedback loop across the different stages of climate services from generation of data and tools, development, delivery, use, and evaluation.

Something that we focused on is ensuring user oriented agencies are at the table. I mentioned the General Services Administration, Treasury Department, different components of agencies, not just the research and science parts. You know, we have different components of the Department of Homeland Security.

We have FEMA, we have the Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency. We have Customs and Border Patrol. It's really impressive the breadth and depth across the federal family that we're bringing together. A third challenge I'll mention has been how to move quickly yet inclusively. Somehow we've done both in the past year and I'm really impressed by the amount of work we've gotten done.

We've really moved at the speed of trust with our interagency partners. After the release of the framework and action plan, it took us a while to figure out we needed to continually listen and learn from our agencies on the next steps to implement the framework and plan, and we did so, and we set up the necessary structures to have all voices at the table.

I think this mode of operation has built and strengthened trust across the federal family that allows us to move together, but really provide value add across a common vision of more equitable and effective climate services, knowing that we each need to participate and engage in this effort fully, share knowledge, best practices, again, for the benefit of all users and communities and decision makers.

Sarah: Great, thanks. And I'm wondering if you talked a lot about interagency coordination, and I'm wondering if you want to elaborate, you know, build on that a little bit more and how it relates to climate services. 

Julian: Yeah, great, great question. This has been the brunt of my work. So part of our work is institutionalizing this whole of government approach to climate services, and that includes interagency coordination.

First, we've stood up a new subcommittee on climate services under the National Science and Technology Council, or NSTC, to provide that cohesive and strategic leadership and direction on federal climate services. And this is really exciting because we have focused on ensuring user oriented agencies have a seat at the table.

I mentioned, you know, we have representatives from Housing and Urban Development, Treasury, and the Internal Revenue Service, different components of Homeland Security. Very exciting. Um, I also mentioned that Climate Services is about both producers and users, and this is important to ensure that our climate data, tools, and technical assistance are both science based, but also meet user needs.

And lastly, I'll mention that we've been institutionalizing this coordination also through the U. S. Global Change Research Program, and USGCRP, as many know, is responsible for products like the National Climate Assessment and the National Nature Assessment, just to name a few products. 

Sarah: Great. Thanks. So as you mentioned, you know, you, you worked with the USDA hubs a bit.

You’ve been at different levels in the government. And so I'm just curious, what's it like working on climate change at such a high level in the federal government? 

Julian: It is both exciting and a little tiring at times. I'm impressed by the hard work that my colleagues have put in on working on the climate crisis.

And you know, personally, you know, I'm merely trying to just be a champion and lift up all boats and lift up different accomplishments. Yet it's exciting to see the breadth and depth of work, as I mentioned, and then you'll be able to highlight amazing work at high level meetings. For example, you know, I was really fortunate enough to highlight our domestic climate services, including the USDA climate hubs at COP28 in Dubai last fall.

Well, my mission is a little tiresome because I'm working very hard weeks because the work never stops. I mean, I make time to listen to all of our agency partners and stakeholders. You know, part of my job is to listen and learn and ensure that our, you know, our interagency processes are inclusive and bring everyone along.

Because of that, you know, I always make myself available. And I learned about how to listen first from my time at the USDA Climate Hubs. And, but, you know, despite time always being a limited resource, I know, you know, it's for the greater good. I love what I do because I know it'll ultimately result in a more seamless ecosystem and process for our nation's communities related to climate services. 

Emile: Julian, I remember you talking about the importance and value of listening to people, particularly producers, years ago. So it's fun to see how that has stayed within you as a person as you've done your other jobs.

And this question relates to that. So I'm curious about the trickle down effect from the work that you do at a national level to the local level. How does what you do end up affecting, for example, a farmer or a rancher in Arizona? 

Julian: That's a great question. So, you know, as I mentioned, our work aims to produce a no wrong door approach to climate services, inclusive of technical assistance, tools, and data. For example, should a farmer or rancher in Arizona go to USDA for disaster assistance from FSA, they should be able to easily find climate resources and opportunities from FEMA or maybe the Bureau of Land Management very easily.

And I know you all at the Jornada, you know, have a great connection with the BLM, but maybe not all USDA units have that great connection. You know, our stakeholders shouldn't have to go knocking on multiple doors to find help. Moreover, sometimes our stakeholders don't even know which building or climate tool or resources to go to.

So part of our work is to lift up the great resources that already exist across all the agencies and also connect the dots within the federal government so, you know, they can easily pass along resources to our end users and stakeholders. And you all are doing great work, you know, through the USGS Climate Adaptation Science Centers, the USDA Climate Hubs, the NOAA Climate Adaptation Partnerships.

Those are, you know, stellar examples of climate services and you're already doing a great connection. That needs to happen across the federal family. Another tangible way our work may affect a farmer or rancher is through more decision relevant data, and those are becoming more place based and people centered.

For example, we spearheaded the Climate Mapping for Resilience and Adaptation, or CMRA portal to help people understand climate hazards, climate projections, and then put that alongside financial assistance information. And the team building the portal has always been open to hearing suggestions on how to make the portal more useful and usable to different audiences.

So it is directly used in decision making. And again, our aim is to provide more platforms to ensure end users are represented. And lastly, I'll mention, you know, we're also elevating that human aspect of climate services and championing, you know, the amazing network of regional applied science and service organizations like the ones I just mentioned.

Um, but really, um, allowing the entire federal family to understand what's available to them already. Um, and it's important to understand and how to leverage this robust network of climate connectors across the federal family to help get the right climate data tools and information in the right hands.

Emile: Excellent, thank you. And you have mentioned a lot of programs and initiatives that you've been working on, um, and so I'm wondering if one stands out for you that you're particularly engaged with or excited about? 

Julian: Yeah, so besides the interagency coordination activities on climate services, I'm really excited about The CMRA portal, the Climate Mapping for Resilience and Adaptation, that's available at resilience.climate.gov. And CMRA is a one stop shop for climate hazards, climate projections, and resilience planning resources. CMRA acts as a screening tool to help community leaders, grant officers, you know, interested members of the public, you know, recognize the assets that may be exposed to current or future climate hazards.

In addition to providing more detailed location specific data about climate threats, CMRA also brings together multiple federal information sources and funding opportunities to help communities better prepare for and respond to climate impacts. I'll mention that CMRA is also an opportunity to make our historic climate investments more effective and useful to communities, again using CMRA as an initial screening for future climate risks.

Emile: Okay, so how can people find CMRA? Is it on resilience. gov or where can people find CMRA? 

Julian: They can just go to resilience.climate.gov and that's where the CMRA portal is available. There is a hazards portal, there's also an assessment tool to look at future projections, there's also a landing page for different planning resources and different policies, and they can also easily find funding opportunities by different hazards, so it's a really great one stop shop.

Emile: Excellent. So we will be sure to include this in our episode notes, a link to that. Great. So what are some near term priorities on climate services that you can share with us? And how can they help the federal government better develop and deliver climate services to the nation? 

Julian: There are some really exciting areas that USGCRP and OSCP are advancing, and these are priority recommendations from the Federal Framework and Action Plan for Climate Services that I described earlier.

One area is a better understanding of how the federal agencies use and evaluate climate data and climate projections. This includes aggregating different agency authorities, best practices, departmental manuals, and resources, and sharing them across the federal family so we can learn from one another.

Another area is building an ecosystem of tools so it's easy to understand navigability among the many climate tools and portals, including CMRA, like I mentioned. There's also the Climate Resilience Toolkit and other agency tools. USGCRP is also thinking about how agencies do co production or co creation of knowledge, as I mentioned earlier, but really synthesizing information across the federal government so that others can better understand how to do this type of work hand in hand with stakeholders, communities, and decision makers. And in some of those findings, some agencies don't even call it co-production. They call it something completely different, yet it's still helpful to understand how agencies talk about it.

So developing that shared language so that others can learn from us. But those are some really exciting near term priorities that I can highlight. 

Emile: Excellent, thanks. Yeah, I'd be interested in that shared language. So this is a really exciting time for services for climate response, for building climate resilience with generational investments through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and through the Inflation Reduction Act.

So how does your work on climate services intersect with this funding and how can climate services make these investments more effective and also more equitable? 

Julian: Yeah, great question. I mentioned the CMRA portal earlier. So CMRA was initially developed at the direction of the Executive Office of the President in 2022 to support the investments through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and now the Inflation Reduction Act.

It was one of the first tools intended to provide forward looking climate information for infrastructure investments. You know, my work at OSTP has been to be a champion of CMRA across the interagency and with the public. And as part of our climate services work, we are also engaging with agencies to understand how they are using CMRA for these generational investments and how to better serve their stakeholders with adjustments to CMRA.

CMRA also provides information on population and disadvantaged communities, which directly links to the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool, which supports the administration's Justice40 effort, which is to deliver 40 percent of climate and clean energy benefits to disadvantaged communities.

CMRA also provides information on building codes, as well as FEMA's National Risk Index. CMRA helps to connect diverse sets of climate information and services so decision makers can make climate informed decisions, especially for those large scale investments. 

Sarah: Thanks Julian. So you've mentioned, and well we've mentioned that you've worked in several other positions related to climate change services and, you know, prior to your detail at the White House and you've told us a little bit about those.

Could you tell us more detail about those positions and, you know, how they might have prepared you for what you're doing now? 

Julian: Yeah, so I was just looking back at my past and how long I've spent at each position. So I was previously the National Coordinator for the Climate Hubs and also a fellow with the Southwest Climate Hub.

So definitely my combined six years with the US. Department of Agriculture has provided me the necessary skills that I think has made me effective at my job. As I mentioned first, listening, part of my job, you know, with the Southwest Climate Hub was convening stakeholders and listening to their needs and concerns.

It's hard for scientists to listen first when they have this amazing new tool or research they want to share, but when working with communities, as we know, it's important to listen first. And this has really been essential in moving inclusively, yet speedily, on advancing administration priorities on climate services.

Second is around convening. It's important not only to bring all voices to the table, but to move inclusively, but also maybe to bring the table to stakeholders to reduce that burden on them to participate and engage in processes. I remember that process, that latter process was really important, important in the American Southwest, where we went to farmers and ranchers to hear directly their concerns on drought, for example, in Clovis, New Mexico or to discuss climate change and impacts in Globe, Arizona. So I think really ensuring that you have those voices at the table is really important, whether you, you move the table to where they're easily, you know, accessible or just, you know, ensuring that diversity of voices. And for climate services, that's including both users and producers.

And so those are just some of the ways that I think my time at USC has really provided a lot of skills for making me excel, I guess, in my current position. 

Sarah: So we like to ask all of the people that we talk with what gives them hope for the future? And so I'll, I'll pose that question to you. What gives you hope?

Julian: Yeah, I thought about this for a while actually. What gives me hope is everyone pitching in to work together collaboratively towards a climate resilient future. I mean, in the climate services realm, you know, our common goal is effective and equitable climate services, and we all are moving towards that same vision.

And so just thinking more broadly on the climate crisis, it's all levels of government, communities, decision makers, sectors. They're all working hard to ensure a healthy, prosperous, resilient, and sustainable future. And really, that gives me hope is that we're all working together towards a common goal.

And that makes me really excited. I know that you know, we're all putting in the work, and I think we're already seeing a lot of solutions on the ground and making an impact. 

Sarah: Okay, what is the one thing that you would like people to remember from this conversation? 

Julian: Yeah there's one thing that I'd like folks to remember is that climate services exist to help translate the great climate science and data into forms that are useful, usable, and used by our stakeholders, decision makers, and end users.

Sarah: Okay, well, thank you so much for joining us today, Julian. This conversation around climate services was very informational and I know I learned a lot and it was great to speak with you again in your new detail at the White House. So thank you. 

Julian: Thank you for having me. It was really fun.

Emile: Thanks for listening to Come Rain or Shine, podcast Southwest Climate Hub 

Sarah: and the USGS Southwest CASC. If you liked this podcast, don't forget to rate or review it and subscribe for more great episodes. A special thanks to our production crew, Skye Aney, and Reanna Burnett. If you want more information, have any questions for the speakers, or would like to offer feedback, please reach out to us via our website.