Climate Change, Extreme Events, and the United States Government Safety Net: A Scoping Review

ABSTRACT Climate‐driven extreme weather events are expected to increase in frequency and severity in the upcoming decade. In the United States, people experiencing socioeconomic hardships are particularly vulnerable to environmental change. There is growing evidence of the growing risks of climate change, extreme weather, and disaster events on vulnerable populations and the important role of safety nets for increasing climate resilience. However, scholarly attention to government safety nets, disaster and crisis management, and behavioral and policy responses to climate/extreme events is largely siloed, offering an opportunity to learn more about the extent of overlapping literature. This study presents a scoping review of over two decades of peer‐reviewed studies at the convergence of these literatures in the United States ( n = 171). Our findings about the range, extent, and nature of peer‐reviewed research highlight opportunities for researchers to build on recent growth in the body of work and underscore the need for policymakers to develop policy and programs addressing increasingly frequent and severe climate impacts.