Private organizations step up to do science that was cut back by the Trump administration

NBC News

02-05-2025

After the Trump administration dismissed hundreds of authors working on the next National Climate Assessment, two science societies announced an effort to publish a special collection of climate change research in its stead.
The Trump administration notified researchers earlier this week that their work was no longer needed on the National Climate Assessment, a congressionally mandated report that summarizes the effects of global climate change in the United States.
The report's future is no longer clear and some authors have expressed concern that it will be whittled down, unscientific or inadequate in expressing the risks of climate change.
'I'm certainly concerned it might be fulfilled in a way that's less rigorous and evidence-based,' said Robert Kopp, a professor of Earth and planetary sciences at Rutgers University, who was one of the recently dismissed National Climate Assessment authors.
In the wake of the administration's action, the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and American Meteorological Society (AMS) announced Friday that they would develop a special collection of research focused on climate, according to a news release from both organizations.
The new collection, to be spread among more than two dozen peer-reviewed journals, is designed to 'sustain the momentum' of the work being done on the National Climate Assessment after the authors and staff were dismissed, the news release said.
In a statement, AGU President Brandon Jones said the special collection was not a 'replacement' for the National Climate Assessment, but that it offered 'a unique opportunity to publish new research and review articles that could underpin a U.S.-focused climate assessment.'
The White House declined to comment on record on why National Climate Assessment authors were released, and what the administration's plans are for the National Climate Assessment.
The Global Change Research Act of 1990 requires the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) to submit a report every four years to the president and Congress, and the National Climate Assessment has fulfilled that obligation in the past. It contains a summary of the best available science about the physics of climate change, its effects on the United States and how society is adapting. The report also contains localized climate predictions for different regions of the United States, which are meant to give the public a better idea of the risks facing their communities.
The most recent version of the report, which was released in 2023, was about 2,200 pages and contained 37 chapters. The 2023 assessment said the Lower 48 states had warmed by 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit on average since 1970 and that the country was dealing with increasingly extreme weather and costly disasters.
'If you're a state official, a businessperson or a member of the general public who wants to understand what is it we know about climate change and the economy, or climate change and coasts, or climate change and human health, you can't do that by reading 200 peer-reviewed papers,' Kopp said, adding that the National Climate Assessment synthesizes climate science and organizes the main findings.
While the National Climate Assessment is the product of hundreds of researchers who volunteer their time, the report has been organized by staffers at USGCRP. In April, the White House ended funding for that organization.
'I have no ideas for what the plan is and I don't think anybody does,' Kopp said. 'They released all the authors and the staff of the Global Change Research Program, so that part of the government is vacant now.'
A message on the USGCRP website now says: 'The operations and structure of the USGCRP are currently under review.'
Kopp said the National Climate Assessment authors had spent about a year outlining chapters to include in the 2027 report, and reviewing themes to include. The outline had already been sent to federal agencies for review. Authors of the report are now assessing how that outline could be transferred.
'You're not going to be able to replicate the NCA unless there's an organization willing to step up and staff up,' Kopp said.