Yohe Examines Impact of the Newly Released Climate Science Report

Gary Yohe, the Huffington Foundation Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies, writes in The Conversation about the recently published Climate Science Special Report. While he, like many others, had feared that the Trump White House would reject the report, instead, he writes, “last week’s release was like trick-or-treating on Halloween and coming to a house with a bowl of candy at the door but no one home.”

He explains:

That’s because the White House Science Office is currently an empty shell. President Trump has yet to nominate a director for the office and has no science advisor. There is no one there to act on the report’s findings, or on part II of the new assessment on climate change impacts, risks and adaption, which is scheduled for completion in early 2018.

The Trump administration is not legally required to incorporate the assessment’s findings in its policy and budgetary decisions, and its strong tilt toward policies that promote fossil fuels strongly indicates that it will not do so.