European governments are taking steps to break their reliance on critical climate science that the United States has historically made freely available to the world. As the Trump administration slashes funding for research and science, especially on the climate crisis, Europe is strengthening its own systems for collecting climate and extreme weather data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Trump administration\u2019s sweeping cuts have targeted agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Institutes of Health, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and others. This has resulted in the elimination of programs that conduct climate, weather, geospatial, and health research, as well as the shutdown of some public databases. After all, the White House, adopting Donald Trump’s positions, defended the cuts, speaking of programs that spread the “pseudoscience of the Green New Fraud.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EU takes action<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In March, more than a dozen European countries called on the European Commission to move quickly to hire American scientists who are losing their jobs due to these cuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to European officials, in addition to the risk of losing access to data that form the basis of the world\u2019s understanding of climate change and marine systems \u2013 they are concerned about a general US retreat from research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Danish Meteorological Institute called the US government\u2019s climate data \u201cabsolutely vital.\u201d It included measurements of Arctic sea ice and sea surface temperatures. \u201cThis is not just a technical issue, reliable data supports warnings of extreme weather events, climate forecasts, protects communities and ultimately saves lives,\u201d said Adrian Lema, director of the institute\u2019s National Centre for Climate Research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Building on their strengths<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The European Union has made it a priority to expand its access to ocean observation data, according to a European Commission official. These datasets are considered critical for the shipping and energy industries, as well as for storm early warning systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition, the EU plans to expand its own European Marine Observation and Data Network. The network collects and hosts data on shipping lanes, seabed habitats, marine litter and other issues of concern. The aim, he said, is to \u201cmirror and potentially replace US-based services.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Europe is particularly concerned about its vulnerability to US funding cuts to NOAA\u2019s research arm, which would affect the Global Ocean Observing System.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The insurance industry relies on the Global Ocean Observing System\u2019s disaster records for risk modelling. Coastal planners use data on coastlines, sea levels and hazards to guide infrastructure investments. The energy industry uses ocean and seismic datasets to assess the viability of offshore drilling or wind farms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Argo programme<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition, the EU is considering increasing its funding for the Argo programme. It is part of the Global Ocean Observing System, which operates a global system of floating vessels. It monitors the oceans, global warming, climate change and extreme weather events, and sea level rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n NOAA in 2024 described the programme, which has been running for over 25 years, as the \u201ccrown jewel\u201d, opening up new horizons in ocean science. It makes its data freely available to the oil and gas industry, marine tourism and other sectors. Its operating costs of $40 million per year are funded 57% by the US and 23% by the EU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n European scientists acknowledge the outsized role the U.S. government has played in global climate science and data collection. But they also say European countries are overly dependent on this work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Coordination<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Some European governments are now taking steps to reduce this dependency. The Nordic countries met to coordinate data storage efforts in the spring, and EU science ministers discussed the issue at a meeting in Paris in May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Norway has set aside $2 million to back up and store US data to ensure continued access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Danish Meteorological Institute began downloading historical US climate data in February in case it is deleted by the US. It is also preparing to switch from US observations to alternatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The \u201cpotentially critical question is when new observational data will stop coming in,\u201d according to Adrian Lemma. While weather models could continue to function without US data, the quality cannot always be guaranteed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cArchiving Rebels\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A movement has emerged in the US called \u201carchiving rebels.\u201d Since Trump returned to the White House, scientists and citizens worldwide have been downloading databases related to climate, public health, or the environment, and it has been decided to decommission them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n About 800 employees from NOAA\u2019s workforce of 12,000 have been laid off or are being pressured to leave \u201cvoluntarily.\u201d The White House\u2019s 2026 budget proposal seeks to shrink NOAA even further, proposing a $1.8 billion cut, or 27% of the agency\u2019s budget. It would also reduce its staff by 20%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This means that the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, NOAA\u2019s main research arm, will have to be dismantled. It will also decommission 20 datasets or products related to earthquakes and marine science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What can be saved?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Without significant funding and infrastructure, there are limits to what private scientists can store. Databases need to be updated regularly. This requires funding and infrastructure that only governments can provide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What is the EU doing?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In recent months, the Federation and EU officials have held a series of talks with European researchers, U.S. charities, and health and environmental advocacy groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The goal is to prioritize the data that will be stored. There is an opportunity for other nations, institutions, and charities to fill the gaps if quality in the U.S. begins to falter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" European governments are taking steps to break their reliance on critical climate science that the United States has historically made freely available to the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2810,1168],"tags":[2737,957,655,25,3720,70],"class_list":["post-25497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate_environment","category-science-technology","tag-climate","tag-climate-change","tag-donald-trump","tag-eu","tag-research","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25497"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25499,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25497\/revisions\/25499"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}