Culture and Society
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Last year, the Trump administration shut down an important government website containing decades of climate data and resources.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.The loss of Climate.gov was a substantial blow for anyone concerned about climate change, but the data is now back and in the hands of an independent nonprofit. A new website, Climate.us, has been launched by a team containing some of the employees who built the original government pages, and it promises to go further than its predecessor as a public service.
Wind back to May 2025, when President Trump issued Executive Order 14303, “Restoring Gold Standard Science”, which established new standards for government agency research. The avowed aim was to ensure higher quality and integrity for scientific research and information within federal agencies.
However, in June 2025 the same executive order was used to remove Climate.gov as a public-facing portal.
If you search for the web address now, you're redirected to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) climate webpage, which explains the situation.
It states that: “In compliance with Executive Order 14303 (“Restoring Gold Standard Science”), the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s June 23, 2025 Memorandum (“Agency Guidance for Implementing Gold Standard Science in the Conduct & Management of Scientific Activities”), 15 USC § 2904 (“National Climate Program”), 15 USC § 2934 (“National Global Change Research Plan”), and 33 USC § 893a (“NOAA Ocean and Atmospheric Science Education Programs”), you have been redirected to NOAA.gov."
"Future research products previously housed under Climate.gov will be available at NOAA.gov/climate and its affiliate websites.”
The implication is that Climate.gov was not regarded as meeting the new standards and so its data and resources were removed from public access. The site once hosted around 15 years’ worth of accumulated reports, statistics, expert blogs, news pieces, maps, data pathways, climate literacy resources, classroom materials, and access to the Fifth National Climate Assessment. Although these resources were not deleted when the website was removed, they were much harder for people to find.
Responding to this loss, individuals who helped build the original government website teamed up to restore this lost repository. Climate.us is a new independent nonprofit providing this vital climate information on its new website.
The decision to do this has not come out of nowhere. The nonprofit says that there has been a large public demand for reliable, trusted climate information. This is reflected in the fact that one-third of Climate.us’s launch money came from 2,500 small donations – accounting for about $250,000 – made by people who wanted to help maintain access to this reviewed science information. In addition to that, around 80 scientists have volunteered to be subject matter experts for the review process.
This is a valuable step at a time when access to federal climate information has become vulnerable to disruption.
“Trusted climate information should not disappear when politics change,” Rebecca Lindsey, Managing Director of Climate.us explained in a statement.
“Climate.us is building an independent, durable platform so people can continue to find the data and information they need to understand and talk about climate, and to teach, report, plan, prepare, and make informed decisions.”
As an independent body, Climate.us can continue where its predecessor left off. It will offer plain-language, science-reviewed communications that are so important for educators, journalists, decision-makers, and communities across the country who want to follow developments in the climate crisis.
Moving forward, Climate.us will continue expanding and building on the rescue mission it's completed. It aims to help turn climate knowledge into meaningful conversations to inform actions.
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