The Trump administration is quietly gutting the government’s most important climate science program, a move that could cripple efforts to prepare for global warming.
Zack Colman reports for Politico.
In short:
- The Trump administration is terminating funding for the U.S. Global Change Research Program, ending the cross-agency work that results in the National Climate Assessment, a report issued every four years to inform U.S. climate policy.
- The move severs coordination between 13 federal agencies tasked with producing the legally mandated report, threatening the next edition due in 2027.
- Several federal employees tied to the program have been fired, and critics say this aligns with Trump’s broader push to undercut science that challenges its deregulatory agenda.
Key quote:
“NASA is working with OSTP on how to best support the congressionally-mandated program while also increasing efficiencies across the 14 agencies and advisory committee supporting this effort.”
— NASA spokesperson in a statement
Why this matters:
The National Climate Assessment was supposed to be the country’s climate reality check — a blunt, science-backed answer to a burning question: What will climate change actually do to our lives, our cities, our food, our health? Now, the Trump administration is pulling the plug on the U.S. Global Change Research Program, the very backbone of the NCA. Without the National Climate Assessment, the government would lose an important, comprehensive resource for climate mitigation as well as anticipating and responding to climate impacts, including on water resources, agriculture, energy and transportation infrastructure, housing, and human health.
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