Trump Puts Climate Skeptic Matthew Wielicki in Charge of 4-Year US Climate Assessment
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jul 11
Trump Puts Climate Skeptic Matthew Wielicki in Charge of 4-Year US Climate Assessment
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jul 11
Summary
Matthew Wielicki, a former geochemist without formal climate-science training, will oversee the US Global Change Research Program and lead the congressionally mandated National Climate Assessment.
The appointment puts a vocal critic of “climate alarmism” atop the federal government’s flagship climate-impact report; Wielicki has called climate science “snake oil” and argued solar radiation, not carbon dioxide, drives warming.
White House officials said they are restoring the program to meet its legal mandate with “best scientific information,” but climate scientists warned his leadership could compromise the assessment’s integrity and spread politically driven disinformation.
The move follows a broader Trump rollback of climate research, including shutting the assessment portal, dismissing contributors to the sixth report, and gutting the program that must publish assessments every 4 years under a 1990 law.