(Credit: Pixabay)The White House has shifted Betsy Weatherhead from her role as head of the US National Climate Assessment, reassigning her to the US Geological Survey, reports the Washington Post. The Biden administration has not yet announced a replacement for Weatherhead.
Weatherhead was put in charge of the government’s report on the effects of climate change by President Trump’s Office of Science Technology Policy (OSTP) last year. She is said to have accepted the job with “a lot of trepidation” because she didn’t want to be associated with the Trump administration — but she also didn’t want the report to be “terrible,” a former colleague told E+E News. "She truly believes in climate change and science. I'm so sorry the administration couldn't see that,” the colleague is quoted as saying.
The appointment falls under the Global Change Research Program, an arm of the OSTP.
The Biden administration is also replacing the head of the Global Change Research Program, David Legates (via the Washington Post). Legates, a Trump appointee, rejects the consensus on climate change. The new director of the program has not yet been announced, writes The Week.
The Biden administration is hosting its Leaders Summit on Climate April 22-23. The summit is bringing together 17 countries responsible for approximately 80% of global emissions and global GDP.
