White House announces new head of climate assessment after ousting Trump-era pick

The White House has announced that Allison Crimmins will lead a major government report on climate change after the Trump-era pick for the job was removed earlier this year. 

Crimmins, a climate scientist who spent almost a decade working at the Environmental Protection Agency, is now the director of the Fifth National Climate Assessment.

The assessment, which is expected to be released in 2023, is used to both inform government policy and provide the public with information about the changing climate. 

A White House statement on Tuesday said that under Crimmins’s leadership, the assessment will aim to develop interactive tools to help people access the information, expand its focus areas to help people better prepare for climate change’s social and economic impacts and try to help improve adaptation planning. 

Crimmins said in a statement that she’d also seek to highlight disparities in climate impacts. 

“I’m committed to ensuring that NCA5 represents and benefits all Americans,” she said. 

“When every American has access to practical, usable information on how climate change affects their businesses, families, and communities, they can both reduce risks and seize opportunities. By highlighting the often-disparate impacts of climate change, we can make informed choices and take collective action that transforms outcomes. We’re in this together,” the scientist added. 

Her appointment comes after the White House removed Betsy Weatherhead from the position in April. 

Weatherhead, considered to be a mainstream scientist, was reassigned to the U.S. Geological Survey. The Washington Post reported that she was ousted from the White House amid tension with other officials over the climate report. 

The Fourth National Climate Assessment, issued in 2018, warned that climate change creates new risks for communities and is likely to impede economic growth, impact the quality and quantity of water available for people to use and could cause impacts that “threaten the health and well-being of the American people.”