Quick summary
• The Trump administration has ordered the USDA and U.S. Forest Service to remove all references to climate change from their websites, deleting critical information on wildfires, agriculture, and climate adaptation.
• Internal memos direct agencies to “archive or unpublish any landing pages focused on climate change” and compile a spreadsheet of all removed content for further review.
• The censorship extends beyond climate change, with the CDC removing information on contraceptives, transgender health, and HIV prevention, and federal agencies ordered to halt communications on politically inconvenient topics.
• The deletion of wildfire vulnerability assessments comes as wildfires rage across the U.S., leaving communities without access to government-provided preparedness resources.
• A new report estimates that climate-driven disasters will force 5 million Americans to migrate in 2025 alone, but the administration is erasing public data that could help communities plan for these displacements.
• Legal experts warn that removing government climate data may violate transparency laws, while environmental groups and congressional Democrats are preparing lawsuits and investigations to challenge the censorship.
• Scientists, activists, and journalists are racing to preserve deleted climate data before it disappears permanently, while public backlash against the suppression of climate science continues to grow.
The Trump administration has ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Forest Service to remove references to climate change from their websites, furthering efforts to suppress government-backed climate science. Internal memos reviewed by The Guardian, Politico, and The Hill confirm that website managers across multiple agencies were directed to “archive or unpublish any landing pages focused on climate change” and to compile a spreadsheet identifying all content related to climate change for further review.
The removals affect webpages that provided critical information on wildfire risks, agricultural resilience, and climate adaptation strategies, even as the U.S. faces worsening natural disasters fueled by climate change. While some climate-related pages remain online, others have already been deleted. A USDA climate adaptation webpage that was accessible on January 31 now displays the message: “You are not authorized to access this page.”
The suppression of climate science is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to censor environmental and social policies it deems politically inconvenient. The Department of Homeland Security has archived its climate change page, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has removed information on contraceptives, transgender health resources, and National Transgender HIV Testing Day. Federal health agencies have also been ordered to pause communications, while Trump has once again withdrawn the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Paris Climate Agreement.
The widespread censorship of scientific and public health information threatens data transparency, public safety, and global climate response efforts. Scientists, legal experts, and environmental organizations warn that erasing government data not only misleads the public but also undermines disaster preparedness and future policymaking.
The USDA’s directive to remove climate change references is not an isolated action but part of a broader attempt to suppress climate science across federal agencies. According to The Guardian, website managers at the USDA and Forest Service were ordered to remove all climate change-related landing pages and document each instance for review.
The Forest Service had previously hosted a webpage detailing how the climate crisis contributes to increasing wildfire intensity and frequency. That page is now gone. This move comes as the U.S. experiences record-breaking wildfires, yet the government is deliberately restricting access to public information that could help mitigate such disasters.
The censorship extends beyond environmental agencies. The White House website has removed nearly all references to climate change, with a search for the term producing only four results. The Department of Homeland Security’s climate policy page has been archived, preventing access to crucial information about national climate resilience efforts.
Federal health agencies have also seen climate and public health data scrubbed from official websites. The CDC has removed key resources related to climate-driven health risks, including extreme heat, air pollution, and disease spread. Additional erased content includes information on contraceptives, transgender health resources, and National Transgender HIV Testing Day.
This is not the first time the Trump administration has attempted to rewrite public records to fit its anti-climate agenda. During Trump’s first term, references to climate change were systematically removed from EPA, NASA, and Department of the Interior websites. Now, the administration is escalating its suppression of climate science, ensuring that Americans have even less access to facts about the worsening climate crisis.
The removal of climate change references from government websites has immediate and severe consequences for public safety, scientific research, and environmental policy.
The timing is especially alarming given the worsening frequency of climate-driven disasters. The USDA had hosted a webpage on wildfire vulnerability assessments, providing essential information to communities at risk of devastating fires. That page has now been deleted, despite wildfires ravaging parts of the U.S., including California and Colorado.
Beyond wildfires, climate migration is already a growing crisis. A report published by First Street, a climate modeling firm, estimates that up to 5 million Americans will be displaced by climate disasters in 2025 alone. By 2055, the U.S. housing market could lose $1.47 trillion in total value due to climate-driven displacement. Yet, the administration is deliberately withholding information that could help communities plan for these massive economic and environmental shifts.
The removal of climate data also affects scientific research and policy development. Harvard data scientist Jonathan Gilmour warned that restricting public access to climate data undermines decades of research and policymaking. In an interview with The Journalist’s Resource, he stated:
“In my lifetime, in the United States I don’t know of another situation where researchers have been this concerned about losing access to data that they’ve had access to their whole career. It’s dire.”
Without access to government climate data, researchers are forced to rely on incomplete or outdated information, making it harder to predict climate disasters, protect vulnerable populations, and craft effective policy solutions.
Censoring climate change references on federal websites is part of a larger campaign to dismantle environmental protections and expand fossil fuel interests.
Within days of returning to the White House, Trump declared a dubious “national emergency” on energy, using it as justification to expand fossil fuel drilling on public lands and roll back emissions regulations. He has withdrawn the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement, reversing Biden-era efforts to coordinate global climate action.
Trump has long denied the scientific consensus on climate change, repeatedly calling it a “hoax” and dismissing environmental protections as “job killers”. His nominee to lead the USDA, Brooke Rollins, downplayed her stance on climate change before the Senate Agriculture Committee, despite Trump’s campaign promises to dismantle climate regulations and expand oil and gas production.
Environmental experts warn that Trump’s policies will increase pollution, exacerbate climate disasters, and weaken the U.S.’s ability to respond to climate-related threats. Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch, condemned Trump’s latest actions, stating:
“Trump’s declaration of a national energy emergency leverages a false premise to encourage expanded fossil fuel production at a time when the United States is already the top oil and gas producer in the world. As fires still rage across Los Angeles and communities impacted by hurricanes and floods still struggle to recover, we must rapidly reduce our dangerous fossil fuel production and dependence—not increase it.”
Environmental and legal experts are preparing lawsuits to challenge the removal of climate change references from government websites. Some argue that the deletions may violate transparency laws, including the Federal Records Act.
Congressional Democrats are also demanding hearings on climate censorship and pushing for legislation to protect scientific integrity in federal agencies. Public pressure is mounting, with environmental organizations and climate activists mobilizing to restore access to suppressed government data.
Despite the administration’s efforts to erase climate change from official records, scientists, activists, and journalists are working to preserve public data before it disappears permanently.
Call to action: What you can do
Contact your representatives and demand immediate congressional action to restore climate science to federal websites.
Support environmental organizations that are working to preserve public data and fight climate denial.
Share this article and spread awareness—censorship thrives in silence.
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