The Main Issue
The Trump Administration, through his first and at an increased amount in his second term, has gone to great lengths to remove access to scientific information and research over a variety of topics. One area that is being consistently attacked in climate research--- no doubt fueled by his multitude of public dismissals and denials of the impending detrimental climate change impacts.
What's Happening?
Website pages run by federal agencies about topics including climate adaptation and resilience, climate impacts, and the government’s responsibility in addressing climate change are being altered or removed according to the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative (EDGI). Websites are reported to have been removed entirely, or their contents have been altered or access has been restricted.
This has further implications, as in his first term there was suppression of webpages about climate information, but some agencies like the EPA remained untouched comparatively. Now, since August 2025 the EPA has lost several pages accounting things like the implications of climate change, resources for adaptation, and tools to evaluate risk and adaptation methods have been removed.
The National Climate Assessment was among one of the peer reviewed authoritative reports that the Trump administration suppressed, removing access to the site and reports of information. The Guardian quotes climate scientist Kathy Jacobs stating that the National Climate Assessment is “the most reliable and well reviewed source of information about climate” within the US. Beyond the quotes, The Guardian reports that the report was used for things like deciding whether to raise roads, build seawalls, or move hospital generators to higher ground, according to Harvard climate scientist John Holdren.
The Global Change Research Act made it a requirement for a national climate assessment to take place every four years, and for the president to establish a United States Global Change Research Program. The Trump administration refused the work of the volunteer authors of the next climate assessment and ended their contract with the firm that oversaw the website and report in the spring of 2025.
The following federal agencies are reported to have removed content surrounding climate change from their websites, as reported by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law: the Department of Defense, the US Department of Agriculture, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency, the State Department, and the White House.
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| Figure from Visualizing changes to US federal environmental agency websites, 2016–2020, showing the difference between the EPA website in 2016 to 2020. |
Targeting
The EDGI Report revealed that the biggest targets for the suppression efforts "included the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts and environmental justice"--- unsurprising when considered along side his continued efforts to remove protections and execute attacks on minority and disadvantaged groups. On January 20th, programs, offices, and positions surrounding DEI and environmental justice were eliminated via Trump's signing of an executive order.
What's Being Done?
Sadly, we are again forced to rely on ourselves instead of the government we live under. Though it is an extreme task for a group of people to take on, many individuals are committed to trying to preserve data surrounding climate change research despite the suppression of the information from the current administration. According to Environment & Energy News (E&E News by Politico), efforts to fight back in the battle for public knowledge meet the obstacle of minimal funding, with canceled grants and dramatic funding cuts from the Trump administration creating a fight for resources among scientific organizations. Another obstacle is the need for a “rapid response” to combat the loss of information by archiving federal datasets. After the deletion of climate information that came with the first Trump administration, scientists began this project after the second election. With the amplitude of projects and the constant threat of suppression, the archivists find it “hard to decide which ones to prioritize." E&E News goes on to talk about options of fighting back in the legislature, with the example of The Environmental Defense Fund and the Union of Concerned Scientists lawsuit to block the administration's proposed repealing of the endangerment fund, a foundational scientific report emphasizing the harms of global warming. The basis for what the public can do to preserve our right for access to climate information is to contribute to efforts in archiving datasets, supporting scientists working to fight back against the administration, and the be aware of the need to look deeper to find information about climate change.
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| Figure from a recent post from the EDGI showing the correlation between regulations and the suppression of information on government agency websites. |
I really like that you touched on the impacts on marginalized communities and was also wondering if you had read about the abolishment to the Office of Domestic Climate Policy.
ReplyDeleteThis was a great read. I actually ran into some pages on the EPA and Federal Register being deleted while doing research for my blog post. These were pages that i had used before for previous research and had been able to access in the past without a problem. It is quite frankly horrifying that the government is able to get away with things like this. The restricted access to information goes along with the defunding of the education system. These are both moves that dictators commonly use when trying to gain control of a country.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure this will play a role in the percentage of people aware of current and future climate change, but hopefully people will make the effort to seek out information.
ReplyDeleteYou did a really good job showing how limiting access to climate data affects more than just research. It's concerning how these changes can influence public awareness. Great job!
ReplyDeleteIt's really worrying that the government is able to just control information like this, and really calls attention to the importance of working together and preserving this kind of data.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you wrote about this! I've also run into issues with finding information surrounding climate change - especially from government websites. It's frightening to know that the government is choosing to restrict this information to further their own plans.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard not to see this as a literal coup on the governed. By deleting the National Climate Assessment and purging the EPA's data, the administration is basically hijacking reality. Those documents are evidence of crimes against the common good, data that can be used to measure damage, hold some accountability, and promote awareness for systemic change towards ecological stability.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you included an analysis of these issues along with a clear call to action. It highlights real responses like data archiving and legal challenges by organizations.
ReplyDeleteI like how you pointed out how easy it is for the government to erase important information. I feel like I read about that in a few books...
ReplyDeleteI feel like that can align with gross domestic product as well. There is no accountability and it is not organized enough to accurately track the input and output. On top of that data being removed doesn't help since we are already struggling tracking our actions.
ReplyDeleteI like the layout of your post. I like how you start with the main issue and what’s happening, then move on to targeting and what’s being done. I was very impressed by how you emphasized how marginalized groups are being affected. In my opinion, that’s the worst part of climate change because I feel like those are the people who are hit the worst, and the people with the least amount of say/control. Well said!
ReplyDeleteIt's disgusting that Trump is purposefully trying to hide information about the climate crisis, feeding into his delusion that climate change "isn't a threat" when it very much is. This also makes it harder for people to educate others about climate change, which could make it so people don't believe in climate change until it's too late. I'm glad you brought this to light.
ReplyDeleteThis blog and other sources documenting this administration's erasure of science and historic events will be crucial to building back what was lost in his two terms of presidency. It is also important to highlight the control this holds over readers now that access to information is being restricted.
ReplyDeleteYour post does a good job explaining the consequences of limiting access to climate research. Your discussion of how scientists and organizations are working to preserve data also added an important sense of urgency.
ReplyDeleteIt’s deeply concerning to see "linguistic gatekeeping" evolve into outright digital erasure, especially when the removed data is vital for physical infrastructure like seawalls and hospital safety. This systemic removal of DEI and environmental justice resources seems to be the modern "architecture of dependency," forcing the public to rely on fragmented archives rather than the authoritative research their own taxes funded.
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