Trump’s climate war could cost America a generation, if we let it

The year 2025 began with President Trump withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement — the opening salvo in what would become a concerted campaign to dismantle the nation’s ability to combat climate change. From there, the Trump administration moved aggressively to gut key emissions standards for power plants and vehicles; suspend offshore wind projects; open millions of acres of protected land for fossil fuel extraction; extend the life of dirty coal plants; and reverse key Inflation Reduction Act initiatives. By November, the value of clean energy project cancellations stood at $32 billion, and the number of clean energy jobs lost at 40,000.

These policy reversals will set back the clean energy transition and lock in fossil fuels for years, but this White House’s most enduring damage will be the destruction of the scientific infrastructure that has enabled our understanding of climate change and informed our policies to combat it. Through the disruption of research programs, shuttering of agencies and institutions, mass firings of experts, and elimination of career paths, the Trump administration is undermining climate science in ways that will hobble American competitiveness for generations.

In effect, the United States is now dismantling its own capacity to address climate change, while ceding leadership in the clean energy economy to competitors like China. More than 3,800 research grants were abruptly terminated in 2025, pulling $3 billion in active research funding from the U.S. scientific enterprise. Each canceled grant represents years of painstaking work abandoned, research teams left without salaries, and important breakthrough discoveries that may now never happen. Universities across the country have also faced the effects of political influence on science, corrupting what was once determined by peer review and injecting political ideology into scientific funding decisions. Driven by the influence of fossil fuel interests, nowhere is this assault more targeted than in climate science. The Trump administration has already fired climate experts across federal agencies, terminated the National Climate Assessment, and scrubbed climate data from government websites. Most alarming is the announced closure of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, a cornerstone institution that develops the world’s most widely used atmospheric and climate models, now branded a source of “climate alarmism.” The administration has also threatened to close federal atmospheric research offices and regional climate adaptation centers, which communities depend on to prepare for climate impacts.

The intentional damage extends beyond research; it also devastates the pipeline of future scientists who would normally drive American climate innovation. Universities have curtailed PhD admissions, paused offers to prospective students, and limited fellowships. Early career researchers face funding uncertainty and the prospect of being forced out of the field. The climate of instability and political interference is causing young people who are committed to pursuing climate science careers to reconsider their paths entirely, calculating that a system where research funding depends on political winds rather than scientific merit does not offer them a secure future. Anecdotes of researchers considering leaving the U.S. for more supportive environments abound. And as America drives its brightest minds away or abroad, China doubles down on research investment, racing ahead in an industrial transformation that dominates global electric vehicle markets and clean technology manufacturing.

Still, even as the Trump administration erodes America’s climate capacity, universities and subnational governments across the country have refused to surrender progress. Some universities have engaged in litigation to overturn funding cuts and have invested some of their endowments into research programs to sustain critical work. Climate coalitions of state-level governments and academic institutions have announced reductions in net greenhouse gas emissions of approximately 24% below 2005 levels, while continuing to grow local economies. Committed states have achieved roughly 45% reductions in electricity sector emissions through cleaner power generation, and many have enacted binding clean electricity standards that lock in their progress.

The damage Trump is inflicting on American climate science will reverberate for decades. The lost discoveries, ignored human talent, and ceded global leadership will not be recovered quickly. However, the resistance from states, cities, and universities reveals that American climate progress is resilient. It will be up to us to sustain this momentum until federal policy realigns with reality.

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