The impacts of climate change in Indiana are already being felt, from more frequent extreme weather and flooding events to changing rainfall patterns and shifting growing seasons. As climate science continues to advance, Indiana decision-makers and residents can benefit from applying the latest knowledge to prepare for challenges and capitalize on opportunities.
ERI is gathering feedback from past and present users of INCCIA to understand how people have used it and how to develop the next iteration. The survey will remain open through Dec. 15, 2025.
To help Hoosiers, ERI is leading a new collaborative effort to apply the best available climate research toward questions relevant to Indiana residents' lives and livelihoods.
Leveraging the latest data and models, this project is bringing together experts from multiple Indiana-based institutions to:
This initiative builds on the Indiana Climate Change Impacts Assessment (INCCIA), a data-informed, multi-report series led by Purdue University and first published in 2018. INCCIA reports have been widely used by researchers, policymakers, and communities across the state and have contributed to a number of other studies and tools.
The Indiana Climate Change Impacts Assessment is a statewide effort to apply the best available climate change research, with the goal of helping Hoosiers better understand climate change-related risks and opportunities.
Purdue University led the first INCCIA effort beginning in 2015, with input from from dozens of Indiana-based institutions. ERI is leading an update to incorporate the most recent climate data and modeling techniques.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) releases new climate data and findings through its Assessment Reports every six years. These reports provide the most up-to-date scientific understanding of climate change, addressing its causes, impacts, and potential risks. They also outline adaptation and mitigation strategies to help communities and policymakers make informed decisions. Each new report includes updated climate, socio-economic, and environmental data, offering a reliable global record of how our understanding of the climate system continues to evolve.
Over the past decade, climate models have changed, becoming more complex and accurate in predicting future climate conditions. These improvements allow for more realistic projections of how climate change may affect local conditions such as temperature, rainfall, and extreme weather in the coming decades.
Updating the INCCIA ensures that Indiana’s communities, researchers, and decision-makers are using the best available science to plan for the future. By incorporating the latest data and improved modeling, we can better understand the challenges ahead and identify effective strategies to build a more resilient Indiana.
Climate modeling centers around the world routinely release updated global-scale climate models that use complex mathematical equations and powerful supercomputers to simulate the Earth's climate system and project future change. These models, however, aren't high-resolution enough to forecast climate trends at smaller, regional scales, such as Indiana or the Midwest, limiting their usefulness for state and local decision-makers.
Downscaling is the process used to generate high-resolution, localized information from a model's low-resolution, large-scale output. By leveraging downscaling techniques, INCCIA researchers can provide climate projections relevant to Indiana communities, businesses, and policymakers.
ERI is gathering feedback from past and present users of INCCIA to understand how people have used it and how to develop the next iteration. The survey will remain open through Dec. 15, 2025.
Updates on INCCIA 2.0 will be published on this web page and distributed through ERI's newsletters.
