Administration selects former geochemist to lead National Climate Assessment

The Trump administration has selected a former geochemist who has publicly questioned mainstream climate research to lead the National Climate Assessment, the congressionally mandated report on climate effects in the United States. The appointee, who left a geosciences professorship at the University of Alabama three years ago, will direct the U.S. Global Change Research Program.

Officials have reduced staffing and closed data portals for the program during the current term.

Background on the assessment Federal law enacted in 1990 requires the report every four years. The five prior editions remain unavailable through the program's online portal after officials removed access last year. The appointee has posted on social media questioning links between extreme weather and climate change and has argued on a personal blog that solar radiation, not carbon dioxide, drives atmospheric warming.

Reactions and next steps A White House spokesperson stated that officials remain committed to using the best scientific information to inform public policy and that the program had previously served political agendas rather than sound science. Two scientific societies, the American Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Union, announced last year they would produce peer-reviewed research to address gaps after contributors to the sixth assessment were dismissed.