The Trump administration has appointed Matthew Wielicki, a former geochemist and outspoken critic of mainstream climate science, to lead the US national climate assessment programme, a congressionally mandated research initiative.
Wielicki, who describes himself as a "professor-in-exile," left his university post three years ago and has previously written that those who believe in a climate emergency "are being sold snake oil". The White House said the programme had too long served as a political instrument at the expense of scientific rigour. The administration had shut down the online portal hosting previous editions of the national climate assessment published since 2000.
The Union of Concerned Scientists called the appointment dangerous. The move follows the administration's withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and the repeal of Environmental Protection Agency greenhouse gas rules, even as the World Meteorological Organization reports the past 11 years have been the warmest on record. On Thursday, the administration also signalled plans to ease truck emission standards.