Washington, D.C.: In a concerning development, several key U.S. government websites that hosted the National Climate Assessments have gone offline, raising alarm among scientists, officials, and citizens who rely on this data for climate preparedness and policy planning.
According to the Associated Press, both the National Climate Assessment website and the U.S. Global Change Research Program site were inaccessible on Monday and Tuesday, with no redirection links or explanations provided.
The vanishing of these crucial public resources has sparked widespread concern over transparency, public access to federally mandated science, and potential dangers to communities facing increasing climate risks.
“It’s a sad day for the United States if it is true that the National Climate Assessment is no longer available,” said University of Arizona climate scientist Kathy Jacobs, who coordinated the 2014 version of the report.
“This is evidence of serious tampering with the facts and with people’s access to information, and it actually may increase the risk of people being harmed by climate-related impacts,” she added.
Why Were the Websites Taken Down?
On Tuesday, the White House confirmed that the climate information was being relocated to NASA in an effort to comply with legal requirements. However, attempts to locate the National Climate Assessments on NASA’s current platforms yielded no results.
Previously available interactive tools, county-level data, and planning resources have now been replaced with dead links or outdated content, leaving local leaders without essential tools to prepare for climate threats.
Neither NASA nor NOAA, the two agencies previously responsible for the platforms, responded to AP’s repeated inquiries. Additionally, no official timeline or public notice has been issued regarding the transition.
Background: Mandated by Law
The 1990 Global Change Research Act requires the U.S. government to produce a National Climate Assessment every four years, and tasks the President with maintaining an interagency United States Global Change Research Program.
The most recent report, released in 2023, featured a robust interactive atlas and provided region-specific insights into how climate change affects security, health, and livelihoods, especially among minority and Native American communities.
Trump Administration’s Prior Moves
Earlier this year, the Trump administration told volunteer authors of the upcoming National Climate Assessment that their services were no longer needed. It also terminated the contract with the private firm that helped manage the climate assessment’s web infrastructure and outreach.
Moreover, NOAA’s primary climate.gov portal was quietly redirected to another NOAA website. Blog content and social media outreach on climate-related issues for the public — once maintained by both NASA and NOAA — have been cut or completely removed.
With no alternative portal yet functional and the next assessment in question, experts fear this is a step backward in climate awareness and readiness.
“This is not just about disappearing websites. This is about erasing critical knowledge from public access at a time we need it most,” said an unnamed NOAA official familiar with the issue.
As the nation continues to grapple with heatwaves, rising sea levels, wildfires, and severe storms, the disappearance of vital public climate resources has left a void in data access and decision-making.