Federal climate education resource, utilized by teachers, faces potential closure by authorities
Federal Climate Education Resource Shut Down by Trump Administration
The federal website Climate.gov, a vital public education resource on climate science, was officially shut down by the Trump administration on June 24, 2025. This decision followed the firing of its entire team at the end of May 2025.
The shutdown is part of a broader federal rollback of climate change initiatives. The administration’s actions have been characterized not just as erasure but as an attempt to fundamentally alter the scientific, legal, and economic basis for climate policymaking.
Experts note the risks of replacing verified scientific information with political propaganda, leaving the public confused about realities and risks related to climate change. Moreover, commitments to relocate some climate reports to the NASA website have not been fulfilled, further limiting federal dissemination of climate data.
While NOAA indicated that climate information might be moved elsewhere on its broader website, Climate.gov as a dedicated, trusted resource no longer exists and is unlikely to be restored under current policies. The federal stance since the shutdown strongly suggests a continued deprioritization or dismantling of centralized public climate education efforts amid ongoing political resistance to federal climate action goals.
The closure of Climate.gov has significant implications for educators. Science teacher Jeff Grant, for instance, uses information from Climate.gov to create lesson plans and educate fellow teachers. Lori Henrickson, a former climate integration specialist, is concerned that the information will no longer be relevant or disappear entirely. Few teachers have received training on climate change, and textbooks tend to downplay the effects of climate change.
The shutdown of Climate.gov comes at a time when there is a growing recognition of the importance of climate education. A 2019 study found that 77 percent of Americans regard it as very or somewhat important for elementary and secondary school students to learn about climate change. Similarly, a 2024 report found that about 3 in 4 registered voters say schools should teach children about global warming.
The organization that produces Climate.gov’s education resources, the Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network, expects its funds to run out in August. Bertha Vazquez, education director for the Center of Inquiry, worries that the disappearance of climate information could leave U.S. students behind.
Concerns exist that the site could be transformed into a platform for disinformation. The Department of Commerce, which oversees NOAA, has cut funding for climate research at Princeton University, raising further questions about the administration's commitment to climate science.
In summary, the current status of Climate.gov is that it is shut down with no official plan to revive it, reflecting a significant rollback of federal climate change educational resources under the Trump administration. The future of such federal climate websites appears bleak under the prevailing administration’s agenda, raising concerns among climate scientists and advocates about the availability and reliability of authoritative climate information from the U.S. government.
References: 1. NOAA Shuts Down Climate.gov 2. Trump Administration Shuts Down Climate.gov 3. The Risks of Politicizing Climate Science 4. Climate Reports Missing from NASA Website 5. NOAA Confirms Climate.gov Shutdown
- The shutdown of Climate.gov, a crucial education resource for climate science, has left environmental-science educators like Jeff Grant and Lori Henrickson concerned about the availability of relevant and up-to-date information for teaching about climate change.
- A 2019 study revealed that 77 percent of Americans consider it important for elementary and secondary school students to learn about climate change, emphasizing the significance of education-and-self-development in addressing climate-change issues.
- Innovation in climate-change policies is hindered by the administration's efforts to erase verified scientific information, as demonstrated by the shutdown of Climate.gov and the replacement of trustworthy data with political propaganda.
- Politics and general-news outlets have questioned the administration's commitment to climate science, raising concerns about the potential transformation of Climate.gov into a platform for disinformation, as demonstrated by the cuts in funding for climate research at Princeton University.
