{"id":735887,"date":"2026-08-12T19:32:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T19:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/735887\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T19:32:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T19:32:21","slug":"trump-administration-pulls-support-for-annual-arctic-environmental-report-trump-administration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/735887\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump administration pulls support for annual Arctic environmental report | Trump administration"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The Trump administration has pulled its support for an annual report on the environmental changes across the Arctic, a region that is already heating up<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2025\/dec\/16\/artic-record-heat-shrunken-sea-ice-report\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> four times faster <\/a>than the global average due to the climate crisis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">On Tuesday, Kim Doster, the communications director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), said the federal agency was withdrawing its support for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/arctic\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Arctic<\/a> Report Card, which has provided environmental updates on the region to scientists and the public since 2006.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Without explaining why the government stopped its support, Doster <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/08\/11\/climate\/noaa-arctic-report-card.html\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">told<\/a> the New York Times: \u201cCoordination of the 2026 Arctic Report Card will not be facilitated through NOAA \u2026 All data historically contributed by NOAA to the product will continue to be collected and will remain publicly available.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Doster told the outlet that other Naa programs would continue to support research in the region that contributes to \u201cnational security, weather prediction, safety of navigation and the economic vitality of coastal communities\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The Guardian has approached Noaa for additional comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Over the last 20 years, the peer-reviewed report has tracked crucial changes across the Arctic\u2019s atmosphere, oceans, cryosphere and tundra. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/climate-crisis\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">climate crisis<\/a> has made the Arctic the world\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/ng-interactive\/2019\/jul\/01\/its-getting-warmer-wetter-wilder-the-arctic-town-heating-faster-than-anywhere\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">fastest-warming region<\/a>. In recent years, the region has experienced severe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/jun\/13\/antarcticas-west-coast-missing-an-area-of-sea-ice-the-size-of-france-as-temperatures-peak-20c-above-average\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">sea ice decline<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2025\/jan\/21\/third-of-arctic-carbon-sink-now-a-source-of-emissions-study\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">carbon sink reversals,<\/a> as well as<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2025\/may\/01\/arctic-plant-study-warning-climate-change\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> ecosystem upheavals<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">In the <a href=\"https:\/\/arctic.noaa.gov\/report-card\/report-card-2025\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2025 Arctic Report Card<\/a>, scientists found that surface temperatures across the Arctic from October 2024 through September 2025 were the warmest recorded since 1900. It also found that in March 2025, Arctic winter sea ice reached the lowest annual maximum extent in the 47-year satellite record.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Meanwhile, on land, the report noted that ongoing glacier loss contributes to steadily rising global sea levels, threatening Arctic communities\u2019 water supplies, driving destructive floods, as well as increasing landslide and tsunami hazards.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">It also found that in more than 200 Arctic Alaska watersheds \u2013 large land areas where rain and melted snow drain northward into the Arctic Ocean \u2013 iron and other elements released by thawing permafrost have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/article\/2024\/may\/22\/alaska-rivers-turning-orange\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">turned rivers and streams orange<\/a> in the last 10 years. The \u201crusting rivers\u201d have in turn increased acidity while elevated levels of toxic metals have degraded water quality, in turn affecting aquatic habits, rural drinking water supplies and subsistence fishing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Speaking to the Guardian, Rick Thoman, the lead editor for this year\u2019s report, said: \u201cWe are scrambling to pull the pieces together. I am optimistic that we can find a path forward for 2027 and beyond. Given the late date, whether we can pull it together for 2026 is an open question, but we\u2019re trying to make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Meanwhile, Twila Moon, one of the report\u2019s editors and scientist at the Colorado-based National Snow and Ice Data Center, told the Guardian: \u201cThe US is an Arctic nation. It\u2019s not just a distant place. It\u2019s also our national place. So many of the changes there have impacts that reach down into our mid-latitudes, even further south.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" href=\"#EmailSignup-skip-link-12\" class=\"dcr-76akua\">skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-vf9hps\">Sign up to Down to Earth<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1r7my33\">The planet&#8217;s most important stories. Get all the week&#8217;s environment news &#8211; the good, the bad and the essential<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782402554_536_500.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"dcr-xiq31o\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"EmailSignup-skip-link-12\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-label=\"after newsletter promotion\" role=\"note\" class=\"dcr-76akua\">after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Moon added: \u201cEven if we\u2019re able to move the Arctic Report Card forward in a way that brings information to people, there\u2019s still a real loss in this not being a US federal effort. That\u2019s a real stepping back of US leadership in the science arena, in the environmental intelligence arena, and that kind of has a whole other flavor of harm as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The funding cancellation is the Trump administration\u2019s latest move to impede government-led studies on the climate crisis and its global effects.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Since retaking office last January, the Trump administration has<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2025\/feb\/21\/trump-scientific-research-climate\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> stripped away support<\/a> for scientific research that mentions \u201cclimate\u201d,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2025\/dec\/17\/trump-boulder-ncar-climate-lab\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> dismantled<\/a> a key climate research center in Colorado which Governor Jared Polis warned would put \u201cpublic safety at risk\u201d, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/jun\/18\/ocean-monitoring-system-reversal-trump-administration\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">attempted to scrap<\/a> a $368m crucial deep-sea observation system, as well as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2025\/jul\/01\/climate-change-reports-removed-trump\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">removing key climate change reports <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2025\/jul\/10\/national-climate-assessment-published\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">from government websites<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Other federally led environmental rollbacks include Noaa\u2019s decision <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2025\/may\/08\/noaa-climate-crisis-extreme-weather-disasters-trump\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">to stop tracking<\/a> the costs of climate crisis-fueled disasters, as well as the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2025\/apr\/29\/trump-fires-climate-report-contributors\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> dismissal of all contributors<\/a> to the US government\u2019s flagship report on climate crisis preparedness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Trump administration has pulled its support for an annual report on the environmental changes across the Arctic,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":735888,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-735887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=735887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/735888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=735887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=735887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=735887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}