Trump administration kills climate report

The Trump administration eliminated funding for the US Global Change Research Program and removed hundreds of contributing authors from the next National Climate Assessment, even taking past reports offline.

Scientists launch replacement effort

The American Geophysical Union and American Meteorological Society created the US Climate Collection, a centralized resource where researchers publish peer-reviewed papers instead of coordinating one giant report.

First roadmap paper published

A paper by 175 authors, many from the terminated assessment, was published in two journals to outline priority research areas for future climate work.

Assessment reports serve science and policy

These reports summarize thousands of scientific papers for non-scientists and policymakers, helping cities plan flood infrastructure and farmers understand climate trends versus weather variability.

Machine learning and new modeling techniques

Climate science has advanced with machine-learning-based simulations and finer-resolution modeling that the new effort must now document.

Tracking rapid policy and energy shifts

The roadmap identifies major changes including chaotic US climate policy, expanding renewable energy, and how AI data centers are reshaping electricity demand expectations.

Regional focus connects science to reality

The effort can zoom in on specific regions like Alaska to show how permafrost thaw releases mercury into water, making climate impacts concrete and relatable.

Decentralized approach enables broader scope

Unlike federally coordinated assessments, this distributed effort can cross borders to analyze how trade links US climate impacts to other countries.

“I see this roadmap as seeding and accelerating a distributed synthesis effort rather than launching a centrally managed research program.”