By Rebecca Hersher
The Trump Administration has dismissed the scientists working on the country’s flagship climate report, a move that threatens to curtail climate science and make information about global warming less available to the public.
The National Climate Assessment is the most trustworthy and comprehensive source of information about how global warming affects the United States. It answers common questions about how quickly sea levels are rising near American cities, how much rain is normal for different regions and how to deal with wildfire smoke exposure.
The assessment is mandated by Congress, and its sixth edition was supposed to be released in late 2027. About 400 volunteer authors had already started work. They included top scientists as well as economists, tribal leaders and climate experts from non-profit groups and corporations.
On Tuesday, the authors received an email releasing them from their roles, and saying “the scope of the [National Climate Assessment] is currently being reevaluated.”
The White House did not respond to questions about why the authors were dismissed or what elements of the report’s scope are being reassessed.
“I think the reason that Americans should be upset, and should be concerned about this decision, is because it’s more than just a report,” says Dave White, a sustainability researcher at Arizona State University who has worked on two previous editions of the National Climate Assessment.
The assessment is widely used by everyone from city planners to farmers to judges. “For example, city water utilities [use it] as they prepare to address the impacts of sustained drought,” White says. And “it informs elementary schools as they develop heat mitigation plans to reduce the risks of extreme heat on children.”
The last edition of the climate assessment, which was released in late 2023, also included an online atlas that allowed anyone to zoom in and see how climate change will affect their local community.
“It’s important to understand what and who is at risk,” explains Rachel Cleetus of the Union of Concerned Scientists, one of the authors who was dismissed. “Not just in a general sense, but in a very localized sense. Without that information, we’d be flying blind.”
