Latest news with #USGCRP
CBS News
30-04-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Trump administration dismisses nearly 400 scientists working on congressionally mandated national climate report
Nearly 400 scientists across the United States were informed Monday afternoon that their services were no longer needed to help write a major report on climate change for the federal government. The report, known as the National Climate Assessment, is a major publication produced every four years that summarizes the impacts of climate change in the United States, and it is congressionally mandated under the Global Change Research Act of 1990. The sixth edition is scheduled for publication in 2027 and preparations have been underway for months to meet that deadline. The National Climate Assessment is the basis for which federal, state, and local governments, as well as private companies, can prepare for climate change impacts, understand future projections of climate risk, as well as learn to adapt and mitigate those challenges. An email sent to participants from the deputy director of services of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, a federal office that organizes the publication of the report read, "Thank you for your participation in the 6th National Climate Assessment ... we are now releasing all current assessment participants from their roles." According to the email, the "scope" of the assessment is being "reevaluated" as the Trump administration looks to comply with the law, something the White House also reaffirmed to CBS News. But many in the scientific community are concerned about how the report will be written without the subject matter expertise of the hundreds of scientists and researchers, many of whom were non-federal employees voluntarily working on the report in service of the government. "The Trump administration has dismissed all the scientists from their work on the nation's most important climate change report," Steven Hamburg, chief scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund, said in a statement. "Refusing to study climate change won't make it go away – or help us deal with stronger storms, droughts, floods, wildfires and hotter temperatures, or help us stop emitting the pollution that is making it worse." The move doesn't come as a major surprise as Project 2025 outlined a plan to reshape the report and the office that organizes it, the U.S. Global Change Research Program. In Project 2025, a policy roadmap outlined by the Heritage Foundation for the next Republican president, authors argued that bureaucratic offices like USGCRP should not have so much control and reports like NCA should include "diverse viewpoints." The steps to accomplish this were laid a few weeks ago when many federal employees of the USGCRP were fired, according to a Politico report, and the contract for outside work to publish the NCA was canceled in early April. When asked how scientists feel about their expertise no longer being needed, most said they expected the news. "I feel badly for the federal leaders who have put a lot of time into this, but to some extent, I think the writing was on the wall when they dismissed the support staff a few weeks ago," said Dr. Robert Kopp a climate scientist and professor at Rutgers University, who was also working on the current assessment. "I think now it's clear, many of the authors would like to see an up-to-date evidence based report." How an independent report can be published outside the purview of the federal government remains to be seen. Dr. Kopp says independent fundraising would need to occur to help support the report's publishing as it requires a lot of time, energy, and resources to organize the efforts of hundreds of volunteer scientists who write the content. Failing to publish a report of record that stands up to rigorous scientific review of past national assessments is significant, says Dr. Mijin Cha, a climate and environmental justice professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz and a fellow author on this year's assessment. "We're losing our status as the premiere data and research country," Dr. Cha said. Many in the scientific community have begun to talk about how to move forward, but fears remain that the Trump administration will proceed with its own report, assigning authors that represent alternative viewpoints on climate change. "I'm worried who will do the NCA moving forward and putting something forward that is false," said Dr. Cha. Because the Global Change Research Act of 1990 mandates the NCA to be written, the Trump administration is legally obligated to abide by the law and has until the end of 2027 to produce the sixth version of the report. contributed to this report.
CBS News
30-04-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Trump administration dismisses nearly 400 scientists working on federally mandated national climate report
Nearly 400 scientists across the United States were informed Monday afternoon that their services were no longer needed to help write a major report on climate change for the federal government. The report, known as the National Climate Assessment, is a major publication produced every four years that summarizes the impacts of climate change in the United States, and it is congressionally mandated under the Global Change Research Act of 1990. The sixth edition is scheduled for publication in 2027 and preparations have been underway for months to meet that deadline. The National Climate Assessment is the basis for which federal, state, and local governments, as well as private companies, can prepare for climate change impacts, understand future projections of climate risk, as well as learn to adapt and mitigate those challenges. An email sent to participants from the deputy director of services of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, a federal office that organizes the publication of the report read, "Thank you for your participation in the 6th National Climate are now releasing all current assessment participants from their roles." According to the email, the "scope" of the assessment is being "reevaluated" as the Trump administration looks to comply with the law, something the White House also reaffirmed to CBS News. But many in the scientific community are concerned about how the report will be written without the subject matter expertise of the hundreds of scientists and researchers, many of whom were non-federal employees voluntarily working on the report in service of the government. "The Trump administration has dismissed all the scientists from their work on the nation's most important climate change report," Steven Hamburg, chief scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund, said in a statement. "Refusing to study climate change won't make it go away – or help us deal with stronger storms, droughts, floods, wildfires and hotter temperatures, or help us stop emitting the pollution that is making it worse." The move doesn't come as a major surprise as Project 2025 outlined a plan to reshape the report and the office that organizes it, the U.S. Global Change Research Program. In Project 2025, a policy roadmap outlined by the Heritage Foundation for the next Republican president, authors argued that bureaucratic offices like USGCRP should not have so much control and reports like NCA should include "diverse viewpoints." The steps to accomplish this were laid a few weeks ago when many federal employees of the USGCRP were fired, according to a Politico report, and the contract for outside work to publish the NCA was canceled in early April. When asked how scientists feel about their expertise no longer being needed, most said they expected the news. "I feel badly for the federal leaders who have put a lot of time into this, but to some extent, I think the writing was on the wall when they dismissed the support staff a few weeks ago," said Dr. Robert Kopp a climate scientist and professor at Rutgers University, who was also working on the current assessment. "I think now it's clear, many of the authors would like to see an up-to-date evidence based report." How an independent report can be published outside the purview of the federal government remains to be seen. Dr. Kopp says independent fundraising would need to occur to help support the report's publishing as it requires a lot of time, energy, and resources to organize the efforts of hundreds of volunteer scientists who write the content. Failing to publish a report of record that stands up to rigorous scientific review of past national assessments is significant, says Dr. Mijin Cha, a climate and environmental justice professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz and a fellow author on this year's assessment. "We're losing our status as the premiere data and research country," Dr. Cha said. Many in the scientific community have begun to talk about how to move forward, but fears remain that the Trump administration will proceed with its own report, assigning authors that represent alternative viewpoints on climate change. "I'm worried who will do the NCA moving forward and putting something forward that is false," said Dr. Cha. Because the Global Change Research Act of 1990 mandates the NCA to be written, the Trump administration is legally obligated to abide by the law and has until the end of 2027 to produce the sixth version of the report. contributed to this report.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump administration dismisses 400 authors of National Climate Assessment
The Trump administration has dismissed all 400 authors of the National Climate Assessment, a congressionally mandated snapshot of the ways climate change is affecting life in the U.S. The scientists and scholars who volunteer to co-author the report had already begun working on the 2028 assessment when the email landed in their inboxes Monday saying they had been 'released' while the report's scope was reevaluated. It echoes the wording in a bright yellow ribbon that now adorns the assessment's main web page stating that 'the operations and structure of the USGCRP are currently under review.' The report, published every four to five years since 2000, provides crucial information to policymakers, the U.S. military, emergency responders, farmers, private companies and the federal government. November 2023 was the latest report, the Fifth National Climate Assessment, and it detailed the impacts of extreme weather, wildfires and other climate-related events on everyday life. It also outlined potential solutions. Trump had already slashed funding earlier this month for the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which oversees the report's production. NASA terminated its consulting contract with the company that supports and helps coordinate the 15 agencies that contribute to the assessment, and author training sessions were abruptly canceled, as USA Today reported. Scientists immediately raised the alarm after Monday's email. 'Today, the Trump administration senselessly took a hatchet to a crucial and comprehensive U.S. climate science report by dismissing its authors without cause or a plan,' said Dr. Rachel Cleetus, a senior policy director for the Union of Concerned Scientists' Climate and Energy Program and one of the dismissed authors, in a statement. 'Not having the NCA is like driving a car with a dirty windshield,' Chris Field, a professor of environmental studies at Stanford University, told The Washington Post. 'Like driving with a dirty windshield, it is hard to detect risks until they unfold as disasters.' _____
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump administration dismisses 400 authors of National Climate Assessment
The Trump administration has dismissed all 400 authors of the National Climate Assessment, a congressionally mandated snapshot of the ways climate change is affecting life in the U.S. The scientists and scholars who volunteer to co-author the report had already begun working on the 2028 assessment when the email landed in their inboxes Monday saying they had been 'released' while the report's scope was reevaluated. It echoes the wording in a bright yellow ribbon that now adorns the assessment's main web page stating that 'the operations and structure of the USGCRP are currently under review.' The report, published every four to five years since 2000, provides crucial information to policymakers, the U.S. military, emergency responders, farmers, private companies and the federal government. November 2023 was the latest report, the Fifth National Climate Assessment, and it detailed the impacts of extreme weather, wildfires and other climate-related events on everyday life. It also outlined potential solutions. Trump had already slashed funding earlier this month for the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which oversees the report's production. NASA terminated its consulting contract with the company that supports and helps coordinate the 15 agencies that contribute to the assessment, and author training sessions were abruptly canceled, as USA Today reported. Scientists immediately raised the alarm after Monday's email. 'Today, the Trump administration senselessly took a hatchet to a crucial and comprehensive U.S. climate science report by dismissing its authors without cause or a plan,' said Dr. Rachel Cleetus, a senior policy director for the Union of Concerned Scientists' Climate and Energy Program and one of the dismissed authors, in a statement. 'Not having the NCA is like driving a car with a dirty windshield,' Chris Field, a professor of environmental studies at Stanford University, told The Washington Post. 'Like driving with a dirty windshield, it is hard to detect risks until they unfold as disasters.' _____
Boston Globe
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Trump administration dismisses authors of key climate report
Advertisement The email from the Trump administration didn't outline what would happen to the next NCA report, only saying that 'there may be future opportunities to contribute or engage' for participating scientists and experts. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The NCA's key functions include analyzing environmental changes, projecting what to expect in the next 25 to 100 years and providing localized information for each region of the United States. Users include the U.S. military, emergency responders, farmers, private companies and the U.S. government. The White House could not be immediately reached for comment. The move comes after the Trump administration slashed funding for the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which oversees and coordinates the writing and publication of the report. Trump officials canceled a contract with a company that provides most of the staff for the program. Advertisement The Post previously reported that the Trump administration's termination of that contract would make it difficult, if not impossible, for the USGCRP to produce the next National Climate Assessment, which remains mandated by Congress under the 1990 Global Change Research Act. Monday's action - combined with the contract termination - means 'there is literally no one' left to do this work, said Mijin Cha, an environmental studies professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz, and one of the dismissed scientists. The NCA is a three-year process that requires rigorous research, Cha said. 'Without the staff and many volunteers, this work won't be done,' she said. Jane Lubchenco, a marine ecologist who served under the administrations of Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, said she feared that the Trump administration would issue its own report and use that to justify the unraveling of existing climate regulations. 'The power of the National Climate Assessment comes from its credibility - credibility because its authors are recognized experts and because the report is peer-reviewed by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine,' she wrote in an email. A report from Trump officials that doesn't have 'these safeguards' would be 'seen as a joke,' she said. During his first term, Trump attracted suspicion that his administration was trying to suppress publicity for the 2018 National Climate Assessment, by releasing it on the day after Thanksgiving. That assessment, and the most recent NCA released in 2023 under the Biden administration, warned Americans of the increasingly deadly effects of climate change, although U.S. emissions have fallen since peaking in 2007. Advertisement Diana Furchtgott-Roth, director of the Center for Energy, Climate and Environment at the Heritage Foundation, praised the administration for 'taking a new look at the NCA reports,' saying that prior assessments advocated moving toward net-zero carbon emissions, which she called 'neither desirable nor realistic,' and did not discuss any benefits of fossil fuels. Field, the Stanford climate scientist, said the administration should continue with the assessment, saying that would be the 'smart, cost-effective thing to do.'
