More than 30 years ago, Congress launched the U.S. Global Change Research Program. Today, the program receives billions of dollars annually to support climate research led by liberal climate scientists who warn of impending environmental doom.

According to its mission, the program is tasked with providing the “scientific foundation to support informed decision-making across the United States” on climate change. It has produced five National Climate Assessment reports, widely regarded as the crown jewel of climate research.

Although it draws funding from at least ten different government agencies, generating the National Climate Assessment appears to be the group’s primary function. The latest report, published in 2023 and still prominently featured on its government website, warns that “severe climate risks to the United States will continue to grow.”

The next report is scheduled to be released in the coming years, according to E&E News.

The National Climate Assessment is far from just an academic exercise—it wields considerable policy influence. Congress and various agencies rely on it to justify regulations and funding decisions, while states and cities use it as a non-partisan scientific foundation for their own climate action plans. In essence, it forms the scientific bedrock for shaping policy at every level of government to achieve left-wing climate change objectives.

Despite the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s website claiming a 2025 budget of $4.95 billion, it lists only two full-time employees. So, who is actually being paid to produce this massive and consequential report?

Sources familiar with previous editions of the National Climate Assessment indicate that much of the work is outsourced to ICF, a large government contractor currently holding an active contract for the report.

The Daily Wire has identified at least one ongoing NASA contract with ICF to “support” the U.S. Global Change Research Program.

ICF is set to be paid millions of dollars during the Trump administration to “assist the nation and the world to understand, assess, predict, and respond to human-induced and natural processes of global change.” 

Announced in June 2021, the contract is a five-year, $34 million agreement designed to support the National Climate Assessments. Government spending data indicates that only $18 million has been disbursed so far.

With another assessment in the pipeline and ICF under contract for an additional year, the remaining $16 million could be paid out within the next year.

A climate scientist who has previously worked on the National Climate Assessment says that ICF effectively runs the show, wielding near-total control over the entire U.S. Global Change Research Program.

“By providing all staff for the USGCRP, a federal agency, the ICF exerts undue influence over the global change narrative and priorities presented by the federal government,” said the official, who requested anonymity to discuss the work.

“The ICF, through the USGCRP, exerts an undue influence on the production of the National Climate Assessment every four years. With the exception of its Executive Director and the Director of the National Climate Assessment, the ICF supplies all staff associated with the USGCRP,” the official added.

A top Trump administration official, Russell Vought, who leads the influential Office of Management and Budget, has signaled his intention to increase oversight of the next climate assessment. Vought has openly stated his goal to sharply reduce what he terms “woke and weaponized” spending.