White House moves to hamstring national climate assessment

The Trump administration plans to scrap a contract for a federal climate assessment used to direct government action on climate change, two sources familiar with the matter said.

The administration will cut the contract with global advisory ICF for work on the National Climate Assessment, a comprehensive report published every five years on how climate change affects the United States.

ICF provides most of the staff for the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), an agency created by Congress in 1990 to coordinate research and investment on climate change, and which has overseen the last five national climate assessments.

The last assessment, published in 2023, said climate change was increasingly imposing costs on Americans, as prices rise for weather-related insurance or certain foods, and as medical care becomes more expensive as people face threats like extreme heat.

Without the contract, what happens with the assessment due in 2028 is uncertain, said one of the sources, who is not authorized to speak to media about the development.

ICF and the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

President Donald Trump's administration has targeted scientific research in several areas in sweeping government job cuts to curtail what it calls wasteful spending, including at the National Institutes of Health, Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The administration has already issued a stop-work order for USGCRP and NOAA staff members who contribute to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a UN body that produces regular climate assessments.