In a striking admission, Energy Secretary Chris Wright revealed that the Trump administration is revising the National Climate Assessments (NCAs), a series of reports that have been integral in communicating the severity of climate change in the United States. The reports, which have been removed from government websites, are now under review, and new versions are expected to be released soon.
During an interview on CNN’s The Source, Wright confirmed that updates are being made to the reports. “We’re reviewing them, and we will come out with updated reports on those and with comments on those reports,” he told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. His comments came in response to growing concerns over the administration’s push to alter the scientific narrative on climate change.
Wright criticized the earlier versions of the National Climate Assessments, calling them unfair in their portrayal of climate change.
“They weren’t fair in broad-based assessments of climate change,” he said. The Energy Secretary further justified the changes, explaining that when objectionable material is found within government reports, it is necessary to correct it. “When you get into departments and look at stuff that’s there and you find stuff that’s objectionable, you want to fix it.”
The National Climate Assessments are highly respected documents, authored by hundreds of scientists and experts. They are the product of years of research, peer reviews, and input from multiple federal agencies. The reports are meant to inform both the public and policymakers on the current and projected impacts of climate change on the U.S. It is an extensive process overseen by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, an interagency effort established by Congress.
Under the Trump administration, these reports have faced significant pushback. The Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018, was released under less-than-ideal circumstances: on Black Friday, a move that many interpreted as an attempt to minimize media attention. More recently, the administration has taken steps to remove previous climate assessments from government websites and replace them with a new report created by just five researchers.
This new report, compiled in just two months, questions the severity of climate change and presents a significantly different perspective than the long-standing National Climate Assessments. Wright played a key role in assembling the team of researchers behind this report, which includes well-known climate contrarians like John Christy, Roy Spencer, and Judith Curry. Wright explained that he personally selected these scientists, claiming he “just made a list of who do I think are the true, honest scientists.”
Wright’s comments on the report raised further eyebrows. “I made a list of about a dozen of them that I thought were very senior and very well respected. I called the top five, and everyone said yes,” he said. However, the speed and limited involvement in the creation of this new report have drawn criticism from climate scientists who point out that the National Climate Assessments typically take years to develop and undergo rigorous peer review.
Zeke Hausfather, a climate researcher at financial services company Stripe and a contributor to the Fifth National Climate Assessment, called the move to alter past reports “very unusual.” “That would be a very unusual approach, especially given the process that went into creating these,” Hausfather said, emphasizing the length and complexity of the review process for earlier climate assessments.
The push to alter these reports follows a broader pattern of skepticism and criticism toward climate science within the Trump administration. Wright’s recent involvement in questioning the severity of climate change aligns with the administration’s broader efforts to roll back environmental protections, including a proposed repeal of the Environmental Protection Agency’s “endangerment finding,” which established that human-caused climate change poses a significant threat to public health and safety.
As the new DOE report goes through a public comment process, the question remains whether these changes to the National Climate Assessments will hold up against scientific scrutiny. If the administration continues its efforts to alter climate science, it could mark a significant shift in how the U.S. addresses one of the most pressing global challenges of our time.
By revising these key climate reports, the Trump administration is not just making minor adjustments but engaging in a major recalibration of the official stance on climate change. This move may have lasting consequences for the future of U.S. climate policy and the nation’s response to the escalating crisis.
