The Trump administration has removed nearly 400 scientists and experts who were contributing to the sixth National Climate Assessment (NCA), reports The Guardian. The comprehensive federal report is used by government agencies to prepare for climate-related risks such as extreme heat, hurricanes, flooding, and drought.
The NCA, mandated by Congress through the Global Change Research Act of 1990, is a multi-year, peer-reviewed analysis coordinated by the Global Change Research Program. This program, supported by NASA and involving 14 federal agencies, has overseen the development of these assessments since 2000.
Contributors to the upcoming NCA6 were notified via email on Monday. The email stated, “At this time, the scope of the NCA6 is being evaluated in accordance with the Global Change Research Act of 1990.” The report is scheduled for publication in 2028, and the removal of its authors raises uncertainty about its progress.
The decision has drawn strong responses from some scientists and policy experts involved in the project.
Dr. Rachel Cleetus, a senior policy director for the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists and an author of the NCA6 chapter on coastal impacts, said in a statement: “The Trump administration senselessly took a hatchet to a crucial and comprehensive US climate science report by dismissing its authors without cause or a plan. People around the nation rely on the NCA to understand how climate change is impacting their daily lives already and what to expect in the future. Trying to bury this report won’t alter the scientific facts one bit but without this information our country risks flying blind into a world made more dangerous by human-caused climate change. The only beneficiaries of disrupting or killing this report are the fossil fuel industry … Congress must step up to ensure the report it requires by law is conducted with scientific integrity and delivered in a timely way.”
This development follows a series of actions by the Trump administration aimed at reducing or halting federal involvement in climate science and policy
Dave White, a senior global futures scientist at Arizona State University and lead author of the fifth NCA, said the report “translates cutting edge science to inform American communities, including farmers, ranchers and businesses.” He added, “Dismissing its authors and cancelling its development undercuts decades of bipartisan progress. This leaves the nation more vulnerable to extreme heat, water shortages, floods and other climate-related disasters. This decision is not only reckless, but also indifferent to the economic, environmental and human health impacts already occurring.”
This development follows a series of actions by the Trump administration aimed at reducing or halting federal involvement in climate science and policy. These include removal of climate information from federal websites, agency staff reductions, and the cancellation of contracts related to international climate cooperation. In February, U.S. scientists were reportedly denied permission to attend a meeting of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The administration also ended a federal contract with ICF International, which supported U.S. involvement with the panel.
Ticora Jones, Chief Science Officer at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), stated: “Putting the nation’s head in the sand doesn’t make the threats go away—it only makes it harder to prepare for the worsening economic, security, health, and quality of life problems barreling our way. This assessment is so important because it lets every American know how climate change affects their community—or even their own backyard.
Cutting federal climate research won’t eliminate the threats from intense heat waves, unprecedented hurricanes, or devastating flooding, it will just make our nation far less able to prepare for them.”
