The Trump administration has appointed Matthew Wielicki, a former geochemist known for his criticism of mainstream climate science, to oversee the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), which produces the National Climate Assessment. Wielicki, who lacks formal climate science training and has called himself an “Earth science professor-in-exile,” has publicly questioned the attribution of extreme weather events to climate change and described belief in climate science as being "sold snake oil."

The National Climate Assessment is a congressionally mandated report produced every four years under legislation passed in 1990, detailing how Americans are affected by the climate crisis. However, last year the Trump administration shut down the online portal providing access to the five editions published since 2000.

A spokesperson for the administration stated, “For too long, the [US Global Change Research Program] has been used as a vehicle for political agendas instead of sound science. We look forward to restoring the USGCRP and ensuring it fulfills its legal mandate.”

In response, Carlos Martinez, a senior climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, warned that placing the National Climate Assessment under the leadership of an "utterly unqualified climate science denier" threatens the integrity of a crucial climate science resource. Martinez added, “Our country cannot afford a compromised USGCRP or NCA that peddles politically motivated disinformation echoing fossil fuel industry talking points.”

Last year, the American Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Union announced plans to produce peer-reviewed research to fill gaps left after the Trump administration reduced the scope of the Global Change Research Program.

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