Every few years, the federal government publishes a comprehensive report that chronicles how climate change is transforming the United States and devastating the country with more extreme storms, wildfires and droughts.But the next installment of the National Climate Assessment — due out in 2026 or 2027 — could dial back the usual scientific rigor in favor of an approach that would both elevate the viewpoint of climate science denialists and jettison all contributions from the Biden administration.Scientists and climate policy experts say the proposed changes — which are being pushed by aides to President-elect Donald Trump — run the risk of undermining a foundational reference for government officials. And they say it could make it harder to craft future U.S. policies to address global warming.The goal of the next administration “is to undermine any policies aimed at accelerating the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy,” said Michael Mann, a climate scientist and director of the Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media at the University of Pennsylvania. The drive to reshape the National Climate Assessment is being led by one man: Russell Vought, a conservative warrior whom Trump wants to lead his Office of Management and Budget.Vought, who ran OMB during Trump’s first term, has long sought to bury or weaken the National Climate Assessment. More recently, Vought has called for greater White House influence over the process, such as giving OMB the power to vet the scientists who will work on the next assessment.During the first Trump administration, Vought was part of a meeting in the White House situation room where officials discussed firing the scientists who worked on the fourth edition, according to two Trump White House officials who were present.Vought also is a chief architect of Project 2025, the conservative policy playbook that outlined how a second Trump administration could shift the federal government to the right.Vought wrote an entire chapter that focused on how Trump could increase his power while diminishing that of Congress. It included a passage on ways to remake the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which produces the National Climate Assessment.“The great challenge confronting a conservative President is the existential need for aggressive use of the vast powers of the executive branch to return power … to the American people,” Vought wrote.The Global Change Research Program was established by Congress in 1990 to coordinate federal research to better understand how climate change affects the country. One of its early successes was to reveal how a depleted ozone layer harmed Americans, which led to regulations that addressed the issue.Nowadays, hundreds of scientists contribute to the production of the National Climate Assessment, which serves as a clearinghouse for U.S. research into global warming.But the wealth of scientific data provided by the National Climate Assessment is one
Dom. Gen 5th, 2025
