The Trump administration has appointed Matthew Wielicki, a former geochemist who publicly disputes mainstream climate science, to oversee the Global Change Research Program, the federal government's principal effort to assess how climate change affects Americans.
Wielicki, who lacks formal training in climate science, will now direct the National Climate Assessment, a congressionally mandated report required every four years since legislation passed in 1990. The move marks a significant shift in leadership for one of the nation's most authoritative climate science resources.
The appointment comes as the Trump administration has dismantled large portions of federal climate research infrastructure. Officials have already closed the online portal where five previous National Climate Assessments were housed, shuttered data-collection offices, and eliminated climate research programs across federal agencies.
Wielicki has built a public profile criticizing what he calls "climate alarmism." He has posted videos with the conservative YouTube channel PragerU and maintains a blog titled Irrational Fear, where he has challenged the conclusions of earlier National Climate Assessments. In 2023, he suggested that people accepting climate science are "being sold snake oil."
On Thursday, he posted on social media questioning the scientific method itself, writing: "If every extreme weather event ends up being attributed to climate change in one way or another, is it really attribution science ... or just confirmation bias dressed up as science? A hypothesis that can explain everything risks explaining nothing." His comment responded to a scientific assessment showing that Europe's recent heatwave would have been impossible without climate change.
On his blog, Wielicki has argued that increasing solar radiation, not carbon dioxide, has driven atmospheric warming.
Wielicki left his position as a geosciences professor at the University of Alabama three years ago, stating on social media that the field was no longer worthy of his efforts. He cited the earth science community's silence on what he called a "false climate emergency narrative" and suggested that scientists fear speaking out because they might lose their positions and research funding.
A White House spokesperson defended the appointment, saying the administration was "committed to using the best scientific information to inform public policy" and claimed that the research program had previously been "used as a vehicle for political agendas instead of sound science."
Critics have voiced alarm about the appointment. Carlos Martinez, a senior climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, called it a threat to the integrity of a crucial resource. "Our country cannot afford a compromised USGCRP or NCA that peddles politically motivated disinformation echoing fossil fuel industry talking points," he said.
The broader pattern of climate research dismantling has prompted major scientific organizations to step in. Last year, both the American Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Union announced plans to produce peer-reviewed research to fill gaps left by the administration's actions. The commitment came after federal officials dismissed all contributors to the sixth National Climate Assessment.
The Trump campaign also received record donations from the fossil fuel industry during the 2024 election cycle.
Author James Rodriguez: "Putting a climate science skeptic in charge of the government's flagship climate assessment is a gutsy move that signals this administration intends to reshape federal climate research from the top down, regardless of the scientific consensus."
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