On Tuesday, April 8, 2025, Commerce Department Secretary Howard Lutnick announced that the department is ending nearly $4 million in funding to Princeton University for climate research done in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The announcement said the programs were “no longer aligned with the program objectives of NOAA,... and are no longer in keeping with the Trump Administration’s priorities.”
One of the canceled programs is the Cooperative Institute for Modeling the Earth System, a partnership between NOAA and Princeton that focused on improving computer models that show how the ocean and atmosphere are changing. According to an agency press release, the program was cancelled because it “promotes exaggerated and implausible climate threats, contributing to a phenomenon known as ‘climate anxiety’.”
The cuts also include a five-year study on fluctuations in Earth’s water availability due to climate change, and another five-year program focused on predicting how changes in rainfall and sea level rise might affect coastal flooding. According to the announcement, “[u]sing federal funds to perpetuate these narratives does not align with the priorities of this Administration and such time and resources can be better utilized elsewhere.”