Washington, D.C. — A new report from the Center for American Progress offers a blueprint for the Biden administration to restore scientific integrity across the federal government, rebuild the federal science workforce, and improve climate science coordination across agencies to help tackle the climate crisis.
To address the scale of the climate change challenge, the report urges the new administration to strengthen scientific integrity policies across federal agencies, expand and improve the federal climate science workforce, and make science and data tools accessible to local leaders. It also recommends structural changes within the White House and federal agencies to support effective climate science prioritization and coordination.
The offices and agencies that analyze climate science must be restructured and expanded to meet the needs of the nation’s climate goals: net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and a transition to a clean energy economy. These changes must also support a return to the international stage on joint global climate ambition. This need is even more urgent following four years of the current administration working to undermine federal programs that gather and produce scientific data on climate and energy.
Among the report’s key recommendations:
- An executive order on day one to restore scientific integrity, coordinate climate science across federal agencies, and undo Trump-era anti-science actions
- A presidential memorandum to update the social cost of carbon
- The appointment of climate scientists and climate policy experts in key White House and agency positions
- An executive order to establish a National Climate Council
- A presidential memorandum to centralize climate science prioritization and coordination under the Office of Science and Technology Policy and set research priorities across agencies to inform decision-making in climate change mitigation and adaptation and resilience
“The new administration will need to restore and revamp the federal climate science apparatus so that it can inform critical decisions—from how to develop technology and protect public lands and waters to how to address the hardest-to-decarbonize sectors and best help communities plan for future natural disasters,” said John Podesta, CAP founder and lead author of the report. “By rebuilding the climate science workforce within the White House and federal agencies, creating a well-functioning interagency process to coordinate science and science policy, and making commitments to scientific integrity, the Biden administration will build the backbone of a healthy federal science apparatus.”
Read the report: “Revamping Federal Climate Science: Recommendations for the Next President of the United States” by John Podesta, Bidisha Bhattacharyya, and Bianca Majumder
For more information or to speak with an expert, please contact Sam Hananel at [email protected].