The Fifth National Climate Assessment was released Tuesday by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, a project mandated by Congress that aims to help the public understand climate change impacts. The report, which comes out approximately every five years, is one of the most important domestic barometers on the climate crisis, that summarizes the latest research from scientists across the country on how climate change is already impacting or is projected to impact the country.

The fact that the report includes a subsection on women’s health is an indicator that this public concern has grown, with new evidence bolstering the many links between the climate crisis and reproductive health.

In a change from previous assessments, this report paid special attention to how intersecting identities can make certain populations more vulnerable. “If you go back to the earliest National Climate Assessment, that’s super sciency,” Wheeler said. “Very much about climate science, basically about the weather. But we aren’t there right now, we can’t just talk about the weather, we’ve got to talk about social injustices, because that’s where the pain is, right? That’s where the climate crisis is.”

Here is what the report had to say about how climate change is impacting women and LGBTQ+ people.

“Women disproportionately experience the burden of climate change because of unique mental, sexual, and reproductive health needs that intersect with existing social, racial, and economic disparities.” – Fifth National Climate Assessment

Through the report, authors made sure to contextualize risk through an intersectional lens, explaining how gender, race and socioeconomic status can exacerbate someone’s vulnerability to the climate crisis.

“Sexual and gender minorities (SGMs) face social, economic, and health disparities and, as a result, experience greater risk of harm from climate change.” – Fifth National Climate Assessment

Also for the first time, the report explains what the research says around vulnerabilities LGBTQ+ people face due to the climate crisis.

Read the full article about climate change report by Jessica Kutz at The19th.