U.S. Climate Assessments Vanish from Federal Websites, Raising Alarm Among Scientists

Legally mandated U.S. national climate assessments — vital tools for understanding how climate change is affecting American communities — have abruptly vanished from federal websites, sparking concerns among scientists and climate experts over public access to critical data.

Websites for the National Climate Assessment (NCA) and the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), the interagency body responsible for producing the reports, were inaccessible on Monday and Tuesday. No redirect links or notices were posted, and attempts to access the assessments through NASA — where the White House says the content is being transferred — yielded no results.

NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which coordinates data for the assessments, have not responded to repeated requests for clarification.

“It’s a sad day for the United States if the National Climate Assessment is no longer available,” said Kathy Jacobs, a University of Arizona climate scientist who led the 2014 report. “This is evidence of serious tampering with the facts and with people’s access to information.”

The National Climate Assessment, released every four years as required by the 1990 Global Change Research Act, is one of the most comprehensive and peer-reviewed scientific reports on how climate change is impacting the U.S. — from rising seas and wildfires to public health risks. The most recent edition, published in 2023, featured an interactive atlas with localized climate projections down to the county level.

Experts Warn of Real-World Consequences

Former White House science advisor John Holdren, who led the NCA efforts under President Obama, said the 841-page 2014 report had a tangible impact on decision-making at the state and local level. “Mayors and governors told me it helped them decide where to build seawalls, whether to raise roads, or relocate critical infrastructure like hospital generators,” he said.

Climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe of Texas Tech, who contributed to several editions, called the disappearance of the reports “a major setback.”

“This is taxpayer-funded information that helps communities prepare for a changing climate,” Hayhoe said. “It’s like trying to drive into a storm with the windshield blacked out.”

While archived versions of the reports remain buried deep within NOAA’s library, the broken links on NASA’s open science portal and the removal of blog content and public outreach pages from NOAA and NASA further underscore concerns about deliberate information suppression.

Systemic Undermining of Climate Communication?

Though the White House claims the NCA content is being moved under NASA’s oversight “to comply with the law,” the lack of clarity and sudden removal has intensified suspicions of interference. Notably, during the Trump administration, contracts with private firms supporting the climate report infrastructure were canceled, and volunteer scientists for the next NCA were reportedly told their services were no longer needed.

“This isn’t just a website glitch,” said Holdren. “It’s part of a broader and deeply troubling pattern of dismantling the scientific infrastructure that helps Americans understand and respond to climate threats.”

Jacobs warned that without access to up-to-date climate data, communities will be forced to make critical planning decisions in the dark. “These reports don’t just contain facts — they save lives and money,” she said.

As of now, the fate of future assessments and the accessibility of existing ones remain uncertain, leaving researchers, planners, and the public without one of the nation’s most crucial climate tools.