Govind Tekale
Nearly 400 scientists working on America’s key climate report were dismissed by the Trump administration on April 28, 2025, throwing the future of this critical research into question.
The scientists received an email stating they were “released from their roles” on the sixth National Climate Assessment (NCA), a comprehensive report that helps communities across America prepare for climate impacts like flooding, drought, and extreme heat.
“The scope of the National Climate Assessment is currently being reevaluated,” the email stated, offering little explanation for the mass dismissal.
The NCA is required by law under the Global Change Research Act of 1990 and is published every four years. The next report was scheduled for 2027.
For city planners, farmers, water utilities, and even elementary schools developing heat protection plans, the report offers crucial data about how climate change affects their specific region. The most recent edition, published in 2023, included an online atlas allowing anyone to see climate impacts in their local area.
“I think the reason that Americans should be upset, and should be concerned about this decision, is because it’s more than just a report,” said Dave White, a sustainability researcher who worked on previous editions. “Without that information, we’d be flying blind.”
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Many scientists link the dismissals to “Project 2025,” a policy roadmap from the Heritage Foundation that called for reshaping the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), which oversees the climate assessment.
Project 2025 recommended incorporating more “diverse viewpoints” into climate reports. Critics worry this means including perspectives that question established climate science.
The foundation for this shift was laid weeks ago when federal employees of the USGCRP were fired and a contract for outside work on the assessment was canceled.
“The Trump administration has dismissed all the scientists from their work on the nation’s most important climate change report,” said Steven Hamburg, chief scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund. “Refusing to study climate change won’t make it go away – or help us deal with stronger storms, droughts, floods, wildfires and hotter temperatures.”
Rachel Cleetus of the Union of Concerned Scientists, one of the dismissed authors, was working on sea level rise and coastal impacts. “It’s important to understand what and who is at risk,” she explained. “Not just in a general sense, but in a very localized sense.”
The administration’s approach raises serious questions about scientific integrity. The NCA has traditionally followed a rigorous process involving hundreds of leading experts who volunteer their time to review extensive scientific literature.
Dr. Mijin Cha, a climate professor at UC Santa Cruz and one of the dismissed authors, expressed concern about who might replace the scientists: “I’m worried who will do the NCA moving forward and putting something forward that is false.”
While the administration is legally required to produce the report by 2027, it’s unclear how it will proceed without the established team of experts. Some scientists are discussing the possibility of publishing an independent assessment outside government channels, though this would require significant fundraising.
“What’s at risk with this dismissal is not only the report itself, but its credibility if it moves forward without the experts that ensure its scientific integrity,” said Meade Krosby, a climate scientist at the University of Washington.
This isn’t the first time the climate assessment has faced challenges under Republican administrations. During President George W. Bush’s term, an edition of the report was published four years late, and only after legal action.
As extreme weather events continue to impact communities across America, the data and projections in the NCA become increasingly vital for preparation and adaptation. The dismissal of these scientists raises fundamental questions about how the nation will track and respond to climate impacts in the years ahead.
