Indiana

Indiana is Extremely Vulnerable to Climate Change:

  • Indiana’s main economy is agriculture, and, according to a Risky Business report, the whole Midwest region will likely face crop yield declines of up to 19% by mid-century and 63% by the end of the century due to increased temperatures and risk of multi-year drought.
  • Over the past 40 years, the Midwest has experienced an average of just 2.7 days a year of extreme heat (over 95°F). By the end of the century, parts of the Midwest, including Indiana, could see that number rise by 75 more days per year.
  • From 1900 to 2010, the average air temperature in the Midwest increased by more than 1.5°F, which has already led to lower crop yields as a result of increased extreme weather events.
  • Climate signals such as increasingly heavy downpours, extreme heat and widespread flooding will affect public health, infrastructure, transportation, agriculture, forestry, air and water quality and even Lake Michigan.
  • The occurrence of air stagnation events is expected to increase in Indiana as a result of climate change, increasing the occurrence of extreme pollution events that impact human health.

Indiana’s Clean Energy Efforts and Opinions:

  • A majority of adults, 58 percent, understand that global warming is happening. A further 76 percent support funding research into renewable energy sources, and 72 percent support regulating CO2 as a pollutant.
  • The Clean Power Plan would require Indiana to cut carbon emissions from the power-sector 38.7 percent by 2030. The state is party to the lawsuit against the Clean Power Plan, and Governor Mike Pence (R) has decreed that no state agency will engage in any planning until a decision is made by the Supreme Court.
  • The state sources most of its electricity, 84.5 percent, from coal, followed by natural gas.
  • As of 2014, Indiana ranked 21st in the country for installed solar capacity, and generates less than 4 percent of its power from renewable sources.