The financing of the national climate evaluation has been reduced

The Trump administration has reduced funding and employees in the program that oversees the first report of the federal government on how global warming affects the country, raising concerns among scientists that the evaluation is now in danger.

Congress requires the federal government to present the report, officially known as the National Climate Evaluation, every four years. It analyzes the effects of high temperatures on human health, agriculture, energy production, water resources, transportation, and other aspects of the American economy. the The last evaluation was made in 2023 It is used by state governments and cities, as well as private companies, to prepare for global warming.

Climate evaluation is supervised by the Global Change Research Program, a federal group founded by Congress in 1990 supported by NASA and coordinating efforts between 14 federal agencies, the Smithsonian Foundation and hundreds of external scientists to produce the report.

On Tuesday, NASA Issuing orders to stop On two separate decades with ICF International, a consulting company that provided most technical support and employees of the Global Change Research Program. ICF originally signed a five -year contract in 2021, with a value of more than $ 33 million, and about twenty employees who worked in the program with detailed federal employees from other agencies.

Scientists said that without ICF support, it is not clear how evaluation can move forward.

“It is difficult to see how they will numb a national climate assessment now,” said Donald Wupls, a professor in the Department of Air Cover Sciences at the University of Illinois, who participated in previous climate assessments. But he added, “It is still supposed by Congress.”

In a statement, a NASA spokeswoman said that the agency “was simplifying her contract to provide technical, analytical and program support for the American Global Change Research Program” to comply with President Trump’s executive orders. She added that NASA planned to work with the White House to find out “the best way to support the program that was assigned in Congress with increasing efficiency in all agencies and the 14 consultative committee that supports this effort.”

The cancellation of the contract came a day after The Daily Wire, a conservative news site, The Central ICF role has been reported In helping to produce the national climate evaluation in an article entitled “Apolition of government consultants wandering in millions to spread his climate death.”

ICF did not respond to a request for comment. The cancellation was I mentioned for the first time by politico.

Many climate scientists had already expected that the upcoming national climate evaluation, scheduled for 2027 or 2028, was very likely to be in trouble.

Mr. Trump has long refused climate change as a deception. And the current director of the management and budget office Book before the elections The next president must “reshape” the global change research program, as his scientific reports on climate change were often used as a basis for environmental lawsuits that restrict federal government procedures.

During the first period of Mr. Trump, she tried to manage, but failed, to deviate from the national climate evaluation. When the 2018 report was issued, he concluded that global warming was put forward An imminent threat and windThe administration published the next day for Eid thanks in a clear attempt to reduce interest.

“We have expected this completely,” said Jesse Kennan, associate professor at the Tulan College of Architecture, who was composed of a chapter of the national climate evaluation on how to affect climate change. “Things were really very doubtful,” he said.

Climate evaluation is usually assembled by scientists throughout the country who volunteer to write the report. Then several rounds of review passes by 13 federal agencies, as well as public comments. The government does not pay the scholars themselves, but it pays for the work of coordination.

In February, scientists have made a detailed plan for the next White House for Initial Review. But this review was suspended, and the agency’s suspension period was postponed.

Lad Keith, associate professor at the University of Arizona, specialized in severe heat governance and urban planning, was helping to write a chapter in the southwest of the United States. He said that while external scientists were able to conduct research on their own, a lot of the value of the report came from the participation of the federal government.

Dr. Keith said: “The national climate evaluation force is that it is going through this detailed review by all federal agencies and the public.” “This makes it different from just a group of academics who meet and do a report. There is already a lot of them.”

Catherine Hayho, climate at the University of Texas Technology, said the evaluation is necessary to understand how climate change will affect daily life in the United States.

“It takes this global issue and is close to us,” said Dr. Hayho. “If I care about food, water, transport, insurance, or health, this means that the climate change for me if I live in the southwest or the great plains. This is the value.”

Austin Jafni and Lisa Friedman The reports contributed.